


bros before clones

by rayghosts



Series: Niel Masters [3]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Clones, DannyMay (Danny Phantom), DannyMay 2020, Gen, Reveal, vlad masters' a+ parenting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:41:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 37,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23951713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rayghosts/pseuds/rayghosts
Summary: The journey of one Daniel "Niel" Masters and his struggle to gain an identity besides being just Danny's clone.
Relationships: Danielle "Dani" Phantom & Danny Phantom Clone(s), Danny Fenton & Danny Phantom Clone(s), Sam Manson & Danny Phantom Clone(s)
Series: Niel Masters [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1726702
Comments: 70
Kudos: 76





	1. Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> i have decided to use this year’s dannymay prompts to write all about my clone oc niel, because why the heck not, im pretty invested in him so far. i wasnt sure if this was worth it since only a few people showed interest in him, except those who did were REALLY interested, so this is for you 😘
> 
> (it's recommended if you've read the previous works in my niel masters series but whatever y'know)

Vlad was hosting some rich club party, which was why the hall was filled with swarms of boring adult millionaires milling about. Niel stood in the corner, wearing a trimmed suit (which he didn't mind), trying his best not to interact with the many strangers in the room (whom he did mind). His dad had made him greet their guests, and all of them ogled the son of the mayor like he was an exotic pet. Niel decided that even though he was one of them, he didn't like rich people very much. So here he was, standing against the wall, trying his best to seem invisible without actually turning invisible.

Apparently, he was still noticeable, because someone said, "You're Niel, right?"

Niel would have considered fleeing, but he realized the person had called him by his chosen name, and not Daniel like his dad always introduced him as. He looked up and held his breath as he came face to face with a teenage girl wearing the most intense black makeup he had ever seen.

She looked around sixteen, Danny's age, and had black hair and purple eyes. For some reason, she was wearing a frilly pink dress, the exact opposite of her spiked hair and angry black eyeliner.

The frankly intimidating girl scrutinized Niel with her violet eyes and said, "Wow, you really do look just like Danny. Except for the eyes. Yours are a bit darker."

It had come to Niel's attention that this was the first girl close to his age that he had interacted with. He attempted to keep his teenage hormones in control and straightened himself, trying to look professional.

"You're one of Danny's friends?" he guessed.

The girl smirked and stuck out a hand. "Sam Manson," she introduced herself.

Her nails were painted black, like the rest of her makeup. Niel shook her hand, then yelped as she tugged him across the room. "Where are we going?"

"I'm bored," she said simply, like that answered everything. She looked at him with half-lidded eyes. He wondered if she was wearing contacts, because those eyes were really purple and really prett--

_Control yourself,_ Niel chastised himself. He didn't know much about Danny's friends, but for what he did know, this girl could be Danny's girlfriend. He didn't want to date Danny's girlfriend.

"You live in this mansion, right?" Sam spoke, shaking him out of his thoughts. "Don't you know anyplace we can hang out away from all these adults?"

"Dad told me I should stay around."

"And you actually listen to your parents?"

_Wow, those eyes are really pretty_ \--but he shook that thought away. He gulped and looked over his shoulder to where Vlad was standing, talking with some people about boring money stuff. Niel might have enjoyed spending money, but he didn't care about hearing about stocks and bonds or whatever, which he guessed everyone in this room enjoyed chatting about.

Vlad didn't glance in his direction at all. He probably wouldn't have noticed it if Niel decided to leave for the airport right then.

He turned back to Sam, who was still waiting for a reply. He smiled and said, "We can go to my bedroom upstairs." Then he realized the implication of that, blushed and quickly added, "To hang out, of course. Nothing lewd or anything."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "To be honest, I didn't think you'd know what lewd even means. Aren't you, like, a few months old?"

Niel frowned. Why did everyone who knew about his clone status always enjoy bringing up his age?

"I read," Niel retorted. "I've read some things in Vlad's library."

"Wow. I'm pretty sure that has to be, like, illegal or something. Vlad lets you read that stuff?"

"Vlad doesn't care about me," Niel said, then felt a sharp pang in his core. He wondered how his past self would have reacted if he told him that. Niel had always looked up to his dad, but that was probably because he was the only person he knew, and also before he talked to Danny and learned about...Danielle.

Sam watched him quietly. "So," she finally said, "upstairs?"

Niel nodded and forced a smile on his face. He led her to the mansion's stairway and up the steps until they reached his room.

Sam whistled when she saw the large flatscreen TV and gaming consoles that spread across the wall. "Nice gameset," she said. "I don't know why I'm surprised. Danny would have bought the exact same stuff if he were rich."

There she went again, comparing him to Danny. He figured it made sense, considering Danny was her friend and he was his clone, but Niel still found himself sulking as he sat on his king-size bed.

"Those are just dumb gifts from my dad," he grumbled. "Aren't you rich, too?"

Sam shrugged. "My parents are rich, all right, but they don't really like allowing me to buy anything. It's dumb. I'm old enough to take care of myself." She rolled her eyes and said, "Parents, am I right?"

Niel crossed his arms and watched her wander around his room. "You know I'm a clone of your friend, but you're treating me normally."

"How do you want me to treat you?" She threw her hands up in front of her melodramatically and said in a bland tone, "Ahh, a genetic double of my best friend created by his arch nemesis. He must be eeeviiillll."

Niel's lips tugged upward at Sam's acting. She smiled and said, "Danny told me about you. You don't sound scary at all."

Niel rubbed his neck. "He talks about me? Does he think I'm weird?"

"A guy who wears expensive suits to sleep? Of course he thinks you're weird."

"I don't...I mean, doesn't he find it weird that I'm his clone?"

Sam plopped next to him on his bed. Her dress was crumpled, but she apparently didn't care about that. "Dude, you aren't the first clone of Danny. We're all pretty used to the whole clone idea from Danielle."

"Yeah, but Danielle is..."

"A girl?"

"...different."

Sam leaned on an elbow and asked, "You're saying you aren't? Heck, you're probably more genetically different than her from Danny, if you really have Vlad's DNA in you."

Niel looked down sullenly. "I wish Dad thinks that."

Sam's eyebrows lowered. "The way Danny told it, I thought you basically extolled Vlad."

Niel sighed. "I thought he cared about me...then I realized he only likes me because I look like Danny." He shrunk in on himself and added, "That probably sounds stupid, doesn't it? I'm a clone of Danny, of course I'm supposed to be like him."

"Absolutely not," Sam said, and she said it with such resolution that Niel looked up in surprise. She got off the bed and placed her hands on her hips. "Sure, you're genetically similar to Danny, but genes should never dictate how you're treated if you don't want it that way."

"Um, okay," Niel said, a little put off by how ambitious she sounded about the subject. His shoulders drooped, and he added, "But Vlad..."

"Vlad thinks you're just like Danny? Then prove to him that you aren't."

"How?"

Sam smirked and gestured down at her dress. "You like my look?"

"It's...an interesting choice of wardrobe," Niel said.

"I didn't pick the dress; my mom did. She always wants me to be all proper and feminine and whatever. I figured I might as well humor her this time, but just because I agreed to wear her dumb dress doesn't mean I have to look the way she wants me to." She gestured to her makeup and said with a grin, "I found a way to remind them of who I really am. Wearing a dress they picked for me will never change that."

Niel observed her dress and makeup more closely. He had to admit, that was a pretty clever loophole. Still. "You're saying I should wear goth makeup?"

"That wasn't exactly what I was trying to say...but why not? You're already wearing eyeliner," she said and brought a hand forward to poke at the black ink surrounding his eyes. He flinched away and blushed.

"I think they bring out my eyes," he said defensively.

"They do," Sam agreed, appreciating his makeup work. He did feel pretty proud of that. "But if you add a little more, then they'll pop out so much, your dad will have no choice but to turn his eyes toward you."

"You really think dressing like you will change his mind?"

"Not necessarily," she admitted. "But it will definitely shock him, at least."

Shock him. For some reason, Niel liked the idea of that. He looked at Sam's wild makeup and spiked hair again and hesitated.

Sam noticed and said with a smirk, "What's wrong? Is the goth look too scary for you?"

Niel huffed and straightened himself. "I've read Dracula, Frankenstein, and most other classic works of horror literature. I'm not scared by goth."

"Then prove it," Sam challenged with a serious expression, but that was quickly broken by the smile that spread over her face.

Niel smiled back.

The Mansons, Vlad decided, were useless. The only reason the couple were rich was because one of their parents had invented that twirling toothbrush, but when it came to doing work, they didn't know a thing about money.

Vlad was almost glad when that goth girl Danny always hung out with came up to them. He was getting bored from hearing her mother drone about some salon she went to.

"Hey there, Mom and Dad. Hey there, Fruitloop."

Vlad's mouth twitched. It seemed that Daniel (Fenton, not his son Daniel) must have thought it funny to get his friends to use his annoying nickname for Vlad. The mayor hid his irritation under a smile and said, "Why, if it isn't Fenton's female friend."

"Hey, I'm your son's friend now, too."

Vlad raised an eyebrow. The girl was grinning now. He realized someone was hiding behind her back.

"Daniel?" he asked.

Sam stepped aside with her arms out and said, "Say hello to the real Niel!"

Vlad choked. It was Daniel, all right, but--"What happened to your hair?!"

His oh-so-perfect creation was wearing eyeliner so thick it made his eyes look like black holes, and was that also lipstick on his lips? He was fairly sure he didn't own any lipstick of that dark shade, which meant he must have borrowed it from the Manson girl. And his hair. It was tousled up and-- _oh Ancients_ \--shaved on one side.

"Hello, father," he said in a sulky voice, and Vlad wondered if he had practiced that tone with Manson before coming to them.

Speaking of Manson, her parents looked moritified. Pamela chuckled nervously and said, "I'm so sorry about that, Mister Masters." She shot her daughter a glare, but Sam just responded with a cheeky grin.

Vlad coughed, loudly, before he regained himself. "It's all right," he told Pamela, but he glared at Daniel. "Excuse us. Daniel, could you come speak with me somewhere private?"

Daniel's expression seemed to morph into worry for a split second, but Sam sent him a reassuring smile, and he relaxed. Vlad frowned. He would have to be careful about letting the two interact in the future.

Daniel followed him out the hall and into an empty hallway. Vlad stopped and stood over him.

He took in a deep breath, held it for a moment, then said as gently as possible, "What the sweet butter biscuits, Daniel?"

"It's Niel," his son muttered, and this time his broodiness didn't seem practiced.

Vlad frowned. He didn't know why Daniel was so insistent on that nickname. It wasn't even spelled correctly--the E should come before the I, and Neil isn't really a nickname one would expect to come from Daniel. "Yes, I believe you've told me that before," Vlad muttered, "but--"

"But you never get it, do you?" He crossed his arms and growled, "You keep naming me after Danny."

There was that angry tone again. He had no idea why, but Daniel had been less than friendly to him ever since that night in the restaurant...

Vlad scowled and informed him, "Of course I would. You're his clone."

"But I don't want to be." He was avoiding Vlad's gaze now, and Vlad thought he heard something in his tone besides anger...sadness. "That's the thing, Dad. I have his genes, but I'm not Danny. And I--I just want to be your son, not your creation."

"That's absurd. You're my son _because_ you're my creation."

The boy flinched. Vlad realized he must be serious about wanting to differentiate himself from Danny.

He wasn't sure how to feel about that. He had guessed, since he used some of his own DNA to stabilize him during the cloning process, that Daniel would end up a little different from Danny, but the boy was beginning to seem even more rebellious than Danielle had been. At the rate this was going, he wouldn't be surprised if he were to follow his sister's example and run away...

Vlad sighed deeply. "Dan--...Niel," he corrected himself. The teen looked up at him in surprise as he continued, "I don't care if you're different from Danny. To be truthful, the only reason I had wanted him as my son so badly was because he's a hybrid, like me. I wanted an apprentice who can relate to my struggle, and Danny happened to provide the perfect blueprint. But I know you're not him, Niel, and I don't mind. You're still my son."

Niel blinked rapidly. Vlad's words must have deeply affected him, because black lines of ink ran down his cheeks where the tears spoiled his makeup. In a choked up voice, Niel said, "You called me by my name."

Was he really this emotional over a name? If Vlad had known, he would have called him by his silly nickname sooner. Niel shuffled to Vlad and enveloped him in a hug.

Vlad forced himself to push down his dislike of being touched and instead patted Niel in what he hoped was an affectionate manner. "That's right, son. Now can you get off me? I think your makeup is coming on my shirt."

Niel sniffed and tore himself away. "Sorry," he mumbled. He looked up at Vlad with glossy eyes, and Vlad was once again struck by how similar they were to his own, and how different they were from Danny's. "Did you really mean all that?"

Vlad wore a smile and said, "Of course. I would never want to be rid of such a perfect halfa like you."

Niel grinned. Good. The boy was happy, which meant Vlad could be content in knowing he won't run away like his other failed clone.

"Run along, now," Vlad told him now that their emotional conversation was over. "Oh, but wipe away that eyeliner first. You look like a blasted raccoon."

"Yes, Dad," Niel said happily and scurried off. Vlad looked down at his suit and wrinkled his nose at the tearstains that muddled his shirt.

At least Niel was no longer angry at him. That manson girl seemed like trouble, though, and Vlad didn't like how close the two teens appear to have become. He spent the rest of the day watching Niel with one eye, just in case.


	2. Flowers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you to everyone who left nice comments last chapter. everytime someone says something nice about niel my brain generates serotonin

"Danny, your clone is adorable," Sam said.

Danny looked away from the plant he was observing and said, "You mean Niel?"

Sam tapped her chin. "Well, Danielle is adorable too. But yes, im talking about Niel, considering he's the one I saw yesterday."

"Oh yeah, you went to Vlad's mansion, right?" Tucker asked from where he was seated among a group of potted plants. "How was he like?"

Sam shrugged. "Like Danny, except peppier, and with a better appreciation for goth culture."

"You turned my clone goth?"

Sam stopped spraying her venus flytrap to point at Danny and say, "Hey, he's his own person, thank you very much."

Tucker leaned back and stared out the greenhouse walls. "I feel left out. How come both of you get to meet this new clone--er, person? I want to see him too..." He trailed off, staring at something in the distance, then pointed out and asked, "Is that him?"

Considering the timing, Danny almost thought Tucker was joking, but then he followed his finger and saw that Niel was, indeed, walking toward Sam's greenhouse. He didn't look very goth in Danny's opinion, although his hair _was_ shaved on one side--but that was more punk than goth. As he got closer, Danny noticed that he was carrying a bundle of yellow flowers in his hand.

Sam went to the greenhouse's entrance and opened the doors to greet him. "So, did you get my adress from the mayor or from Google Earth?" she said.

Niel rubbed his neck nervously. "Did I do something wrong?"

"'Course not, Dracula. Come in." She made way for him, then eyed the flowers and asked, "Are those for me?"

Niel held them out, blushing slightly. "Danny said you like flowers. Uh, completely platonic flowers, of course."

Sam took the flowers from him. "I do like flowers," she confirmed, "though not so much cutting off flower roots and selling their corpses for money."

Niel blinked. "Oh."

Sam have a half-shrug. "It's fine. I'll just give it to my mom, since she loves decorating our house with flower corpses."

"I'll...be sure to get a potted plant next time."

"You better," Sam said. "Meanwhile, I'll go find somewhere to place these dead flowers so they can provide some decoration while they rot away."

Niel looked mortified as she left the greenhouse and went indoors. As soon as she was gone, Tucker burst into laughter.

"Oh man, you should see your face. Nobody is ever prepared for ultra-recyclo-vegan Sam."

Danny watched Niel with a smile as the younger boy glared at Tucker. He nodded at his hair and said, "Nice hairdo."

Niel ran a hand over the shaved part of his head. "It was Sam's idea. Something to make me look different from you." He looked across the various plants in the greenhouse and said, "She really does like plants, doesn't she?"

"You have no idea," Tucker agreed. He gestured across the room and said, "I promise you, every plant in here, Sam named. Like, those two flowers over there--what did she name them again?"

"Hecate and Nyx," Danny supplied. "Or Nyx and Hecate. I don't remember which one's which."

Niel frowned at the twin flowers. "They look the same."

"Yeah, well, Sam has some way to tell them apart," Tucker said. He cupped his mouth with one hand and whispered conspiringly, "If you ask me, I'd say she still has plant-whisperer powers from Undergrowth."

Niel ignored Tucker. He was still scowling at the plants. "Why bother keeping two of the same kind if they're basically the same thing?"

Danny had a sneaking suspicion Niel wasn't just talking about the flowers. Either Sam really trained him to become dark and brooding, or something was troubling the boy.

"Hey," Danny asked, "things okay with your dad?"

Niel shrugged, not tearing his eyes off the plants. "I think so."

"You think?"

"They're good, I think. I mean, yeah. They are." He smiled and added, "I got him to call me by my name."

"Really? That's great," Danny said, and his tone was sincere. He knew how many times Vlad insisted on calling Niel by Danny's name. Yet, for some reason, Niel didn't look as happy as he should have been regarding the news.

Danny was about to ask him what was wrong, but Tucker chose that moment to lean forward and say, "So, are you crushing or Sam, or...?"

Niel spluttered and shouted, "I am not!"

Danny would have felt irritated at Tucker, but he had to admit seeing Niel's face turn as red as Sam's anthuriums was hilarious. Maybe that was what Tucker was going for: lightening the mood a little.

"You're not what?" Sam asked, and the three boys whipped around to see her reentering the greenhouse.

"Nothing," Niel said quickly. He scratched his cheek and turned his attention back to the flowers. "Just appreciating Nyx and Hecate here."

"Hecate and Nyx," Sam corrected.

"Yeah. That." He glanced at his wrist and said, "Um, I guess I should be leaving now."

Sam raised her eyebrows. "You just got here. Don't you want to hang out a bit?"

Danny could tell Niel wanted to, but he shook his head and said, "Dad's pretty strict about my training schedule."

"Training schedule?"

"Yeah. For my ghost powers." His eyes moved to Danny, almost out of reflex. For a long time, the clone had tried to get Danny to join him as his brother, but that was before he started questioning Vlad's integrity. Now, he just kept quiet and looked away.

Sam's lips thinned. "I dont mean to offend you, Niel, but I gotta be real with you. Your dad is kind of a--"

"A horrible villain who wants to take over the world?" Tucker said.

"--a jerk."

Niel crossed his arms, not meeting any of their eyes. "He's the only parent I have. I don't know. I don't know what to feel about him."

"I thought you said things were cool between you last night."

"I did, but..."

"But?"

Niel shook his head. "It's nothing. I better go."

The trio's eyes followed him as he left, but no one tried to stop him.

Niel wasn't lying about the training schedule, but the truth was, his training wasn't due for another hour. Rather than return to the mansion, he stopped by an alley on the way.

There was a fast food restaurant nearby, and he bought a takeout burger and brought it with him to a small spot nestled between two buildings. He was disappointed but not surprised when he found it empty. He wasn't sure why he expected otherwise. It would have been dumb of her to stay in one place for long.

"Looking for me?" a familiar voice spoke, and he looked up and saw Danielle Phantom appear in front of him.

"So you did stick around," Niel said.

Dani floated down, stopping before her feet touched the ground so that they were at eye level. "Well, duh. I came to Amity Park because I wanted to see you for myself, and one short conversation this morning wasn't enough for me." Her eyes drifted to the box in his hands, and they sparkled as she pointed and said, "Woah, is that a Nasty Burger?"

Niel handed the burger to her. "I thought travelling around the world homeless might have made you hungry."

"Niel, I know we only just met today, but I think you're starting to become my favorite brother." After accepting the box, she landed on the floor and transformed into human, then she took out the burger and scarfed it down.

Niel watched her with interest. Even though Vlad mentioned her often, he never kept any photo of her. All Niel knew was that she looked like Danny, but younger and female. He guessed that description was true, but it was a bit hard to notice her similarity to Danny from underneath the low wool cap and oversized hoodie she wore--not to mention her incredibly messy long hair.

Niel brought out a small yellow dandelion from his pocket and twirled it in his fingers. Dani paused eating to look at it.

"Didn't you say you were going to give those flowers to Sam?" she asked.

"I did," he replied. "I thought I might keep one to give to you, though, as a sort of welcome gift." He offered her the flower.

Dani eyed it. "I appreciate the gesture, but we're siblings."

"It's a friendship flower! Yellow flowers are for friendship, red flowers are for love."

"I don't know enough about flowers to refute that, so all right." She shrugged and accepted the flower, then after a moment's thought, placed it in her hair. "What do you think?"

"You would have looked cute, if you weren't otherwise so messy."

Dani rolled her eyes. "Pompous rich people," she grumbled, then bit into her burger again, not paying any attention to the grease that ran down her chin.

Niel wrinkled his nose. "Are you sure we're related?"

"Hey, man, ask Vlad."

Niel hesitated. He toyed with his wristwatch and asked, "Was he really that bad to you?"

Dani finished her meal and sucked her fingers. "I thought we established this earlier today. Vlad probably treats you well because you're perfect, but I wasn't so lucky. He just thinks of me as a failed experiment."

"He said your body was unstable, but you seem pretty stable to me."

She chuckled. "I'm not unstable _all_ the time. Trust me, you won't see me looking as pretty as this when I'm emotional."

If her current appearance was pretty, Niel wasn't excited to know how she looked like unstable. Dani observed him for a moment, then said, "I have to say, you really are a nice clone."

"I thought you said I was pompous."

"You are. But you also brought me a burger and a flower instead of taking me to Vlad."

Niel's eyes widened. "Why would I do _that_?"

"To gain his respect?" She shrugged and said, "That's what I would have done, back when he cared for me. I was almost ready to kill Danny because he told me to. Maybe it's a good thing I turned out to be imperfect and had to leave."

Niel decided to ignore the fact that Dani would have murdered a person and instead said, "You mean you didn't realize it at first?"

"Oh, no. I was stable for like a week before Vlad noticed anything amiss." She saw Niel's troubled expression and quickly added, "It's okay, I'm sure youre safe. You've stayed stable for much longer than I did. You're not a failure."

"I hope not," Niel mumbled, not feeling completely reassured.

Dani gave him a friendly nudge. "Don't worry, you'll be fine. And if you're not, you could always join your super duper awesome sister Dani on her worldly expeditions."

Niel frowned. "By the way, why do you call yourself Danny? Don't you want to go by your own name?"

"Uh-uh," she wagged her finger and said, "I'm _Dani_ , with an _I_. He's _Danny_ with a _Y_."

"That has to get confusing sometimes."

"Oh, absolutely. But it's also really funny. Like how there're two Hawkeyes in Marvel comics."

"There's two Hawkeyes?"

Dani gasped dramatically, then placed a hand on his shoulder and said deeply, "Niel, I really need to get you into comics."

Niel slowly moved Dani's hand away. "Okay...but I still find it weird that you want to be called Dani. Why not Elle? or Ellie?"

Dani tapped her chin and said, "You could call me that, if you like. Ellie does sound pretty cute."

"Cool, then. Ellie it is."

Ellie didn't seem to mind his new nickname for her. She wiped her mouth with a sleeve and looked at Niel's watch. "I guess I better leave. If Vlad's treating you like he used to treat me, then you probably have to do some ghost training in a few."

Niel looked down at his wrist. Had time really passed that quickly? "Yeah, you're right. Um...I'd say say you later, but..."

Ellie shrugged. "Why not? No harm in sticking around in Amity Park for a while longer, right?" She jabbed a finger at Niel and added, "Just make sure Vlad doesn't try to capture me or anything. Also, feel free to buy me food whenever we meet."

"I'll keep that in mind," Niel promised.

Niel turned away and began walking home. He glanced over his shoulder to where Ellie had been, but she was gone, probably off to do...whatever it was she did on her own.


	3. Reflection

A clone, by definition, is a genetically identical copy of an organism. Yet, for whatever reason, every time Vlad tried to make one, it ended up different from the original. It was almost as if nature didn't want a perfect clone to exist by his hand. He had tried countless times to make a reflection of Danny, but it always ended up as more of a funhouse mirror's reflection, where you could tell it was the same person but the proportions were all wrong and twisted.

First there was the clone whose flesh melted off as soon as it stepped outside its pod. Then, to prevent that from happening again, he increased the muscle mass on the next clone, but that resulted in it gaining too much muscle and looking more like a copy of Jack than his son. On and on he kept experimenting, tweaking, until he could flatten the mirror enough to produce the right reflection. Eventually, he made Niel, but even the seemingly perfect clone turned out to be different from Danny--and not just in appearance.

Vlad had built an underground space next to his lab for his son to practice his powers. He and Niel were inside, duelling one another. Vlad fired off multiple energy balls, and Niel quickly dodged. That was one notable thing of interest: contrary to Danny, Niel's combat style seemed to focus more on speed than strength. Vlad wondered what could have caused this difference between the two. Each day spent with Niel under his care made for an intriguing nature vs. nurture study than any psychologist would have paid to observe.

As fast as Niel was, however, it wasn't enough to dodge the last shot from Vlad, which hit his shoulder and pinned him to the floor. Or maybe the clone had been fast enough, but he was distracted. His movements did seem slower that day than usual.

Vlad frowned and landed next to him. Niel looked away in shame and said, "I'll do better."

"You're doing worse than normal," Vlad countered. "What is going through your head?"

Niel squared his shoulders and looked at his feet. "Nothing," he lied.

Vlad sighed. "You won't get better at fighting if you don't tell me what is distracting you."

Niel absentmindedly fiddled with his cape (Apparently, he liked to base his ghost form outfit on Vlad's, which was flattering), then hesitantly asked, "What will you do if I'm not good enough?"

"Train you to be better, of course," Vlad answered obviously.

"But what if that's not enough? What if I'm never as good as Danny?"

"I thought we already discussed this. I'm not getting rid of you, regardless of how you are compared to Danny." _In fact, studying those differences is proving to be interesting_ , he thought, but didn't say that part out loud.

"But you got rid of those other clones," Niel pointed out.

Vlad waved a hand through the air, as if dispelling the words aside. "Failed experiments. Most of them couldn't even form speech."

"What about those who could?"

Vlad furrowed his brows. What could have happened since yesterday to dampen Niel's spirits so much? "They were unstable, like the others. You should be glad--it was thanks to their failures that I was able to learn enough to create you."

"So, if I turned out to be flawed..." Niel rubbed his neck and asked, "wouldn't you be able to easily replace me?"

Vlad's eyebrows rose. Was that what scared him? "Niel, I wouldn't have gone public with you if I weren't planning on keeping you around," he assured. "I couldn't have healed the other clones, but now I have enough information and resources to fix you if you ever turn out like them."

Niel glanced up hopefully. "Really?"

"Of course. I have full confidence that you'll remain stable, but just in case, you have nothing to worry about."

"Oh," Niel said. He visibly relaxed. Then he looked up and said, "Wait, does that mean you could also fix the other clones, if they ever came back?"

Vlad stopped and narrowed his eyes. "They won't come back. They're gone."

Niel seemed like he wanted to argue, but he cast his eyes down and said, "No, you're right. I guess not."

Vlad watched the clone with interest. As different as he was from Danny, at least they both had sympathy for others. But for his dissolved brethren, whom Vlad had assured him were gone for good? Well, there was still Danielle out there somewhere, but...

Vlad's eyes narrowed further. His first thought was to keep Niel closer to him, where he could keep a watchful eye on him, but he knew that wouldn't be right. The boy continued to defy him in spite of his caution. He realized with sudden clarity that Niel had been right--that he was a complete person, more than just a perfect reflection of Danny.

Vlad had planned on doing this at the start of the next year, but he could postpone it no further. Niel needed to join the real world, to learn of what existed outside his mirror's frame.

Vlad cleared his throat and stated, "Since you are so enthusiastic about proving yourself as your own person...I suppose you might as well be ready to go to school."

Niel's eyes widened. He was stunned silent as he took a minute to let that sink in. "You mean, like, actual school?" he asked, "With real people?"

"Yes, Niel. Actual school, with real people."

Niel sprung off the floor, his eyes sparkling. "Really?"

Vlad smiled. Niel was so energetic sometimes, it was hard for his good mood not to spread to others. "Yes, really. You've proven yourself effective enough in your studies that I have no doubt you will do well among other students."

Niel's face split into a grin. His smile felt so warm it might have melted the ice around Vlad's heart, just a little bit.

Vlad dropped his smile and said, "All right, enough chit chat. We were supposed to be spending this time training."

"Right," Niel quickly replied and readied himself into a battle stance.

This time, he didn't slack. He was a blur as he dodged Vlad's attacks and sent in hits from his own. At one point, he managed to dodge a beam from Vlad--by going in two directions at once.

Niel blinked when he saw what he had done. Two Niels floated side by side, staring at each other in surprise.

Vlad grinned as soon as he realized what had occured. "Duplication! That took Danny a long time to master. Well done."

Both Niels turned to smile at him, and one of them said, "Does that mean I'm better than Danny?"

"Better? I'm afraid Danny still has more experience than you. But, under my guidance, I have no doubt that you soon will be."

A funhouse mirror's reflection, the proportions all wrong and twisted. But sometimes, that reflection might end up more handsome than the original.


	4. Science

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...i swear, this chapter did not go how i planned it at all.

Danny was panting when he entered the school building. He had arrived in time despite the ghost he encountered on the way. As he leaned over on his knees to catch his breath, Sam walked over nonchalantly and handed him a filled worksheet. "I did your biology homework for you," she explained. "You're welcome."

Danny blinked. "We had biology homework?"

Sam rolled her eyes and said, "What would you do without me?"

"Fail school, for sure," Danny said and gratefully accepted the paper from her.

A girl passing by them suddenly paused and came over. Danny recognized her from a few of his classes, though he didn't remember her name. "Danny--" (He might not know everyone's names, but everyone knew his name; it was kind of hard not to recognize him with the Fentons' reputation)--"I didn't know you had a brother!" she said.

Danny furrowed his brows and said, "Brother? What brother?"

"That freshman who looks exactly like you," she responded, glancing between him and Sam with knit eyebrows. "Are you not related?"

Sam and Danny met each other's eyes. No doubt, the same thought was running through their heads: a fourteen-year-old boy who looked exactly like Danny? Sure, it could be a coincidence, but it was more likely to be Danny's oh-so-beloved clone, Niel.

Danny frowned at his classmate and asked, "Where is he?"

She pointed down the hallway, still confused, and Danny moved in the direction of her finger before she could ask any more questions. It didn't take him long before he spotted the freshman she had been referring to, standing alone by a locker.

Niel looked nervous. As much as the idea of being around other kids was appealing to him, the reality was a bit overwhelming. There were all these students milling about who didn't speak to him and whom he didn't know how to engage with. More than a few were staring at him and whispering to each other, which Niel found pretty rude, considering he was right there.

He perked up when he saw Danny approach him. Finally, someone he knew! Niel turned away from his new locker and greeted Danny with outstretched arms and an exclamation of, "Danny!"

Danny did not reciprocate his friendliness. Instead, he crossed his arms and demanded, "What are you doing in my school?"

Niel dropped his arms (a little disappointed) and replied, "Learning, supposedly."

Danny raised his eyebrows. "You mean you--? But I thought you were homeschooled."

"Not anymore," Niel responded with a grin. "Dad thinks being around others my age would be good for me. Er, my physical age, that is."

"That's great and all, but did it really have to be this school? No offense, but I think people would notice that you and I, you know..." he gestured between their faces and said, "look exactly the same."

"Actually," Niel said, holding up a finger, "sometimes look-alikes exist even though they aren't related at all. After all, genes are based on chance, and as the infinite monkey theorem says: if you allow a monkey to hit a typewriter at random for an infinite amount of time, eventually he will surely write out the complete works of William Shakespeare."

"The infinite mon...whuh?"

"All I'm saying is, it's scientifically proven that there's a one in 135 chance of someone having a perfect genetic double who isn't a twin--or a clone. It's rare, but not impossible."

Danny scratched his head. "You seem well researched on the subject."

Niel smiled and said, "Of course! I love knowing stuff."

"Wonderful," Danny muttered. "I bet you'll fit in just great with the nerd table."

"Nerd table?" Niel asked, sounding genuinely interested. Danny could already picture it in his mind: his double sitting with Mikey and Lester and the other nerds, standing out among their high pants and round glasses with his punk hair and luxurious clothes.

Danny wanted to stay and verbally fight Niel further, but he realized there was nothing to berate him for. Niel had long ago given up on recruiting Danny in joining Vlad, and he wasn't the kind of person to cause problems in school for no reason. Sure, he could be plotting something under Vlad's orders, but Sam had promised him that she had "recruited Niel into the rebellion against the tyrannical rule of parents", so he doubted it. Niel was, simply put, here to learn.

Danny narrowed his eyes at him just in case, then grumbled, "Welcome to Casper High, I guess. Try not to cause any problems."

"Rich of you to say, but all right," Niel said. A few students nearby giggled. Danny didn't know how Niel already knew about Danny's so-called deliquent status at school, but he frowned at Niel's smirk before turning away with the intent to go to class.

He paused mid-step when he caught Wes watching them intently. Oh, boy. _Wes_. That guy must be having a field trip--an exact double of Danny suddenly appearing at school? No doubt he was already formulating theories in his head about Niel's existence.

Danny and Wes caught each other's eyes. Danny smirked and made his eyes glow for just a split second. Wes scowled.

"You seem well acquainted with the new kid," Wes spoke with narrowed eyes. "He's not just a look-alike, is he?"

Danny shrugged and said, "The truth doesn't matter, especially since nobody will believe you either way."

"You're dead to me," Wes growled.

"Don't you mean I'm dead in general?"

Danny's grin was shit-eating as he walked past Wes like he wasn't there.

Wes glared at Danny's back before returning his attention to where Niel stood, but the other boy was already gone too. The bell rang to signify the start of class. Wes balled his hands into fists and muttered, "I will find you out, clone."

"Really, Wes?" someone said, and he turned around to find that Star still hadn't left the hallway yet.

"Oh, come on!" He gestured wildly and said, "Surely you must have noticed that they look exactly the same!"

"They have different hair. And eyes."

"Hair can be styled, and contact lenses exist."

Star rolled her eyes and said, "You're delusional, Wes."

"I am not!" But Star ignored him and was already leaving the hallway. Wes grumbled loudly to himself before eventually sighing and shuffling to class.

School was pretty easy for Niel. In fact, being the son of a scientist--as well as an avid reader and Wikipedia diver--made the subjects he learned in class seem like child's play. As he and his classmates stood in the chemistry lab, the other students _ooh_ ed and _aah_ ed at the rainbow display when the teacher added boric acid to a flame, but Niel wanted to scoff. He'd seen much more impressive things in his dad's lab. Hell, he was a scientific marvel himself, so to speak.

The teacher told them to replicate the experiment in pairs. Immediately, everyone else in the room quickly paired up with their partners, and Niel suddenly found himself an outcast. Danny and his friends weren't in this class; he didn't know any of the faces around him. He didn't have the half year everyone else had to get acquainted with each other, and he doubted anyone was interested in being paired with the new kid.

Niel was just about to accept the prospect of him being partnerless when a boy quietly slid into the seat next to him. Niel looked up in surprise. The boy was tall, and Niel had a feeling he would make a pretty good basketball player. He looked sort of like Danny with red hair--which was a funny thought coming from a literal clone of Danny.

The redhead turned his eyes on him. Niel was suddenly reminded of the way Dad used to look at him during his first weeks of existence outside his pod. Studying him.

"Hello," Niel said, thinking it a polite way to greet this person who chose to be his partner.

The boy just narrowed his eyes and asked, "What's your relation to Danny?"

Did this person know Danny? "His parents and my parent were college buddies," Niel answered truthfully.

"Riiight. College buddies." His eyes squinted so hard at Niel, he wondered if something might have gotten inside his safety goggles. The boy leaned toward him and said, "So you're not, say, I don't know...a clone?"

Niel's eyes widened, but he thought he hid his worry pretty well. Dad had made him promise before going to school that he would not reveal to anyone his clone status. It was a closely guarded secret, like the existence of human-ghost hybrids.

So it turned out Danny was right about people noticing the physical similarities between them. But Niel told himself not to worry yet.

"We do look sort of similar, don't we?" Niel said conversationally. "It's pretty cool, actually. Did you know there's a one in 135 chance of--"

"Cut the bull," the boy interrupted. "I searched that up on my phone just now. The chance of actually meeting your look-alike is about one in a trillion."

"Then I guess I'm the one in a trillion?" Niel said with a shrug, but sweat began to form in his palms. The boy wasn't convinced.

"Yeah, right," he said. "You're way too similar to Danny for it to be normal. Either you're some long lost twin, or you're his clone."

Alarms blared inside Niel's head. He tried to think of a valid response to save himself. Luckily, he didn't need to, because a student from the table in front of them groaned and said, "Leave the new kid alone, Wes."

The boy--Wes--looked at the girl who spoke and said, "Come on, Ashley. You had to have noticed how much he looks like Danny."

"I don't know, his hair's different," Ashley retorted, turning around in her chair to face them. "Are you sure this isn't just your Danny obsession acting up?"

Wes spluttered and shouted, "It's not an obsession!" After getting a glare from the teacher, he lowered his voice and repeated, "It's not an obsession. You're all just too blind to admit the truth that he's Phantom."

Wes knew that Danny was Phantom? Yet, apparently, nobody believed him. Ashley rolled her eyes and drawled, "Suuuure. Just because he's absent most of the time Phantom appears--"

"Not most of the time! All the time!"

Ashley's lab partner snickered and said, "Right, and I must be Batman because we've never been seen in the same room together."

Wes growled. "Nathan, you know Batman isn't real. Phantom is. And he's definitely Fenton."

"Hey, how dare you imply Batman isn't real?"

Wes grabbed at his hairs and made a whimpering sound in his throat.

Niel was starting to realize that these people will never believe Wes no matter what. A sly grin worked its way onto his face, and he said, "No, you're right. I am absolutely a clone."

Ashley and Nathan covered their mouths and giggled. Wes gave Niel a stink eye.

"You're just like your original, you know that?"

Niel shrugged.

Ashley stopped giggling to squint at Niel. A second later, she said, "Actually, hey, I see it now. You do sort of look like Fenton."

Crap. "Really? I don't see it," Niel said, then mentally kicked himself. How could he say he doesn't see it when he already admitted their similarity earlier? _Really, Niel, you're starting to slip with your lies._

Nathan just shrugged and said, "Big deal. Everyone tells me that me and my brother look the same."

"Yeah, but that's because you two are related," Wes retorted. "What's Niel's excuse--apart from his extremely unlikely cover story of being a random doppelganger?"

Ashley suddenly gasped and said, "What if Niel and Danny _are_ brothers?"

"I thought Niel is the mayor's kid," Nathan said and scratched his head.

"Of course he is, but who's the mom? Haven't you ever noticed how close Danny's parents are with Masters?"

Niel _really_ hoped she wasn't suggesting what he thought she was suggesting. "I'm adopted," he told her.

"That's exactly what Masters would say to the media," Ashley said with a smirk. She leaned forward and said, "Come on, tell the truth. Am I right?"

"No!" Niel replied, his face burning. Of course, if his dad knew that someone even thought he, um, went to bed with Maddie, he'd be elated. But Niel was not elated. "Danny's mom doesn't even like my dad."

"But Danny's dad does, right?" Nathan said, stroking his chin. "And you do sort of look like him, minus the size."

Wes raised an eyebrow. "Okay, now you guys are just making stuff up. How do two men have birth together?"

Nathan shrugged. "They're scientists, aren't they? Maybe they, like made him in an artificial pod."

Niel silently panicked. Obviously, the idea of Vlad and Jack in a relationship was plain wrong (and a bit funny, considering how much Vlad hated Jack), but the part about the pod baby was a little too close to the truth for comfort. Also, what the heck was with them discussing his birth right in front of him?

Niel was about to find something to say to get them to abandon this conversation when Ashley suddenly exclaimed, "Oh my god!"

"What?" Nathan asked.

Ashley held silent for a few moments to increase the tension before she slowly said, "Vlad Masters is trans."

Silence. Niel was suddenly aware that several other kids in the lab had abandoned their projects to listen in on the quartet's discussion. They observed Niel, as if trying to find the similarities in him to Vlad and Jack.

Niel slowly and deliberately whispered, "What the butter biscuits?"

Danny stomped down the hallway with a frown. He found Sam by her locker and approached her.

"As everyone knows, I'm all for brooding, but what's with the sour mood?" Sam asked. Danny glared at her.

"You did my biology paper, but you didn't think to remind me that we had an English assignment due?"

Sam held up her hands innocently and said, "Hey, I can fill out your worksheets, but I can't write your assignments for you. Mr. Lancer is crazy good at spotting differences in writing style."

"I thought you were good at copying styles."

"Maybe, but then I started thinking about what sort of creative writing you would think of, and it bummed me out too much to do it."

"The goth girl thinks I'm too much of a bum?"

"Exactly, Danny. Your life is sad as hell."

Whatever reply Danny was about to say was interrupted when the same girl from earlier ran up to them and said, "Danny, I didn't know you had a secret half-brother!"

Danny didn't think it was possible, but he was even more confused now than he had been before. "A what now?"

"Oh, right, my bad. It's supposed to be a secret." She winked.

"Wait, what? What secret?" he called out, but the girl already left.

Niel walked over to them. For some reason, his face was buried in his hands, as if he was in too much shame to make himself seen.

"Niel," Danny began, "what the heck have you done, and why are people calling you my secret half-brother?"

Niel just slumped his head against a locker and murmured, "The doppelganger excuse didn't work."

That didn't explain much, but just then Tucker came over laughing and slapped Niel on the back. "Niel, I know we haven't spent much time together, but I love you," he said between laughs.

"Can someone please explain what's going on?" Danny demanded.

Tucker spent another minute or so laughing, but after he eventually stopped with a satisfied sigh, he grinned at Danny and said, "People are starting to write Mpreg fanfiction of your dad and Vlad."

Danny choked on his saliva and probably would have died if he had needed to breathe. Tucker's guffaws picked up again, and Niel looked like he was seriously considering phasing through the earth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know, this chapter is really lighthearted compared to the rest. consider this a breather before things start getting dark the next chapt--uhh sorry did i say something? nope. nothing at all.


	5. Moon

The siblings met on top a peeling billboard at the edge of town, which had become their sort of unofficial meeting place during Ellie's stay. Niel had suggested some other places nearer to human civilization, especially since Ellie continued to make him buy food for her, but Ellie had insisted that this was the perfect place because the lights were dim enough and they were high enough to see the stars--stars that were visible on this particular clear night.

"She's beautiful, isn't she?" Ellie said, gazing up dreamily.

"Who is?" Niel asked.

"The moon, of course!" Ellie replied, gesturing widely at the sky. "Of course, the stars are beautiful too. Venus is shining especially bright today. That's a planet, but she still looks like a star from this distance, so whatever."

"You're really enthusiastic about space."

Ellie stared at him like he'd grown a second head and said, "You mean you _aren't_?"

Niel shrugged. "Dad tried getting me into astronomy for some reason, but it never caught my interest that much."

"And you're _sure_ you're a clone of Danny?"

Niel frowned at the incredulous look Ellie was giving him. "Come on, an interest in astronomy can't be genetic, can it?"

"Maybe not, but it sure as hell is the core of being a Danny."

This wasn't the first time she described herself as a version of Danny. Paired with her old nickname, Niel wondered if she felt the opposite way he did about being a clone: she _wanted_ to be like Danny. He couldn't for the half-life of him understand why, but that was how she acted.

Niel ignored her statement and instead looked down at the comic book in his lap. Just like she had promised, Ellie was trying to get him into Marvel by bringing him issues in exchange for the food. When he asked her if she stole these comics, she didn't reply. (She stole them.)

"This makes no sense," Niel said, referring to the comic. "Radioactivity doesn't give you superpowers, it just gives you cancer."

Ellie chuckled. "It's fiction, dude. It doesn't have to be accurate."

"But they're spreading misinformation! What if a new ghost forms because some kid decided taking a swim in a radioactive vat would be fun?"

Ellie rolled her eyes. "Nobody will swim in a radioactive vat. You're sounding like an overbearing boomer."

Niel gasped and clutched his chest. "You take that back."

Ellie hummed like she was mulling it over, then said, "Nope."

Niel hid his grin by bringing the comic up to his face. He squinted at the page and tilted it slightly, like that would help him understand it better. "Seriously, though, this doesn't make sense. Spiders don't have a "spider sense"."

"You're just a boring science nerd."

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying you're not, even though you like astronomy?"

"I _am_ a nerd, and that's my point! What kind of nerd _isn't_ interested in space?"

He shrugged. "I'm not saying space isn't cool, but studying it? Too much math."

A smirk formed on Ellie's face, and she swung her legs and said, "Speaking of math, how was school? Is it really true that you started a rumor about Vlad and Jack having an affair?"

Niel grimaced. "I didn't say anything," he said, then coughed into his fist and quickly muttered, "but I might have accidentally convinced the entire student body of that."

Ellie laughed and punched his shoulder. "Like I said: favorite brother."

"Even though I'm boring and don't like astronomy?"

"Hey, everyone has flaws."

A comfortable silence settled between them, broken only by the wind rustling the comic book's pages in Niel's lap. He took a break from reading Spider-Man to look up at the night sky. He had to admit, the moon did look beautiful.

"Vlad," he heard Ellie mutter contemptuously after a while. Then she whispered a string of insults that were much harsher than the names of English pastries.

Niel winced and fidgeted. "You know," he said hesitantly, "maybe...maybe Vlad might be able to change his mind about you." He shriveled under Ellie's glare, but he continued, "He told me he could fix unstable clones now."

"Really? Did he actually say he would fix any clone, or just you?"

"...Just me," he admitted.

The girl sighed. "Niel, you beautiful, naive baby brother--" _baby brother?_ \--"even if Vlad could change his mind, I won't. I'm much happier travelling around the world than being stuck inside some depressing mansion."

Niel glanced at her. The moonlight made her hair shine gray. He rubbed his neck and asked, "Don't you ever get tired from travelling? Or...lonely?"

Ellie turned her eyes away. She lowered her head and didn't speak. This time, the silence wasn't so comfortable.

Just as the tension between them was starting to become unbearable, Niel's breath suddenly misted over. Next to him, Ellie's breath was the same. They met eyes briefly, any hard feelings between them forgotten, then tensed their bodies and leapt to their feet.

"So this is where you've been?" a voice said. Niel turned and saw a metallic ghost with a flaming mohawk phase through the billboard.

Niel's jaw tightened. "Skulker," he greeted.

Ellie inched back. Skulker's attention turned toward her, and his steel features contorted into a grin.

"This is a pleasant surprise. I was sent by Vlad to find his kid, and instead, I find two."

"You brought him here?" Ellie breathed behind Niel. He turned around and saw her blue eyes wide and filled with horror and--betrayal. His heart squeezed.

"No! Of course not!" He faced Skulker and demanded, "What are you doing here?"

Skulker scoffed. "Did you really think your dear old dad wouldn't notice you sneaking off at night? He wanted to know what you were doing behind his back, and _of course_ , he couldn't find anyone else to babysit you besides me." He snickered and said, "He was worried you might be sleeping in with that animal rights girl."

"He thought I was with Sam?" Niel said, blushing in spite of the situation.

"Oh, but this is much better. A family reunion?" His optics zoomed in on Ellie, who had backed up so far she stood on the edge of the billboard.

Niel placed himself between the ghost and Ellie and said, "I'll go back to Dad, but leave Ellie alone."

"Ellie? So the thing has a name now?" Skulker cackled. "No thanks. If I bring Plasmius two duplicates instead of one, maybe he'll pay me better."

"Why would a ghost even need money?"

Skulker's faceplate twisted into a scowl. "He pays me with materials. Do you think metal is easy to come by in the Ghost Zone?"

There was a flash of light from Ellie's direction, and Niel didn't need to turn around to know she had gone ghost. He didn't have time to. A net shot out of a compartment in Skulker's armor before Niel could blink.

In the span of one tense heartbeat, Niel lurched out his arm and blasted ectoplasm from his hand, shoving the net aside. It landed harmlessly out of range from Ellie.

Niel hadn't had much training in using his ghost powers in human form, and so his flesh felt like acid as his skin smoked where the blast was released. He bit back his pain and met Ellie's now-green eyes. Neither of them spoke, but a psychic message seemed to pass between them: _Run._

Ellie pushed herself into the air and flew away. Niel yelped as Skulker's cold metallic hands wrapped around his neck and lifted him up.

"Not so fast," Skulker growled. "I've gotten close to catching the whelp many times--I'm sure I can mange to catch two knockoffs."

He held Niel to the side, where he dangled out of reach from Skulker's machinery. The ghost took aim at Ellie and released a missile. Niel shouted when he heard a small explosion go off and Ellie's cry as she was hit.

Ellie fell. Niel was certain she would descend all the way down to a painful impact with the ground, but apparently, Skulker hadn't run out of nets yet. He released another green mesh that snatched Ellie mid-air and reeled her in toward him. She wasn't struggling. She must have been unconscious (or dead--but Niel didn't want to think about that).

Niel thrashed in Skulker's grip. He tugged on his core and transformed into a ghost. Immediately, the pain in his hand receded. Skulker only had time to turn his face toward him before Niel fired an ectoblast right at his face.

Skulker yowled and let go. Niel hovered in the air with balled fists.

"What is wrong with you, you rip-off halfa?" Skulker snapped. "I'm working for your father."

"Let Ellie go," Niel demanded.

Skulker growled. "Don't let me go back on your father's orders and hurt you."

"I'd like to see you try," Niel taunted.

In retrospect, that probably wasn't the smartest thing to say. Yes, Niel trained everyday, but Skulker had existed far longer than him and was also the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter. Vlad wouldn't have hired him if he wasn't confident in the hunter's skills. Niel lasted about a third of a minute before he found himself tangled inside a net like Ellie's.

"Finally," Skulker grumbled. "You're as troublesome as the original ghost child."

The jetpacks in Skulker's armor fired up, and the ghost flew across the sky with two half-ghost clones in tow.

Niel tugged at the netting furiously. Of course, phase-proof. He glared at Skulker and shouted, "I'll tell Dad that you hurt me!"

"Oh, really? So you'd admit that you were unwilling to return to him?" Skulker replied. Niel hesitated. Skulker grinned and said, "I thought not."

Hopeless, Niel looked at the other net dangling beside him, where Ellie's form lay still. "I'm sorry," he whispered. Ellie did not respond.


	6. Stuck

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im sorry

Skulker tossed the nets holding Niel and Ellie like potato sacks onto the cold metal floor. Niel saw his dad stop pacing around the lab and come toward them.

"There you are," he spoke in his smooth voice, his deep blue eyes latched onto Niel. Without glancing up at Skulker, he asked, "Why is my son inside a net?"

Skulker grunted, but he pulled out a blade and cut Niel's net open. Niel staggered to his feet. His muscles felt sore from being tangled up for so long, but he didn't give himself time to stretch. Instead, he quickly stood in front of Ellie's net in an attempt to hide her from Vlad.

Unfortunately, this didn't work. His dad spotted the other figure Skulker had brought, and his eyes widened. Then a smile formed on his lips. "Do my eyes deceive me, or is that Danielle?"

Niel wavered, but he didn't move from his spot. Behind him, Ellie groaned, stirring awake.

"Move away, son," Vlad ordered. "I want to see my dear daughter."

"Fruitloop," Ellie muttered.

Vlad looked over Niel's shoulder at the girl. "How unoriginal. Is this how you greet your father?"

Ellie's eyes opened so she could glare angrily at Vlad. "You're not my father," she hissed.

Vlad pouted and placed a heart on his chest. "Am I not the person who created you?"

"Sure, right before you tried to melt me down," she spat back.

Vlad's eyes drifted to Niel. Niel gulped.

"Don't hurt her," he pleaded. Vlad's eyebrows rose.

"You care about her."

"She's my sister."

Understanding dawned on Vlad's face, and he said, "So that's why you were so keen about what happened to the other clones. You've befriended one."

Niel stood his ground despite the nervousness that was steadily growing in his chest. "Is it true?" he asked his dad. "You were going to kill her?"

"Kill?" Vlad laughed and said, "Of course not! I was planning on fixing her afterwards. It's like turning a computer on and off. She would have reformed."

"You're a liar," Ellie snapped from inside her net. Skulker gripped his blade and growled, but Vlad held up a hand placatingly.

"It's all right. You're here now, and you can be fixed. After all, I'm sure you don't enjoy looking like this from time to time," he said and nodded at her face. That was when Niel saw it. Ellie had once told him she didn't look so pretty when she was emotional, and that was true. The right half of her face looked like whenever Niel left a piece of chocolate out for too long and it began to melt. Ellie cupped that side of her face with her hand and looked down, blinking angrily.

Vlad cooed. "Yes, you hate that. But don't worry. I won't hurt you. Isn't that right, Niel?" and he turned his eyes to the boy.

Niel felt like he was stuck. He looked at Ellie, and her visible eye watched him pleadingly, begging him not to side with Vlad. But Vlad--his dad--was watching him as well, his eyes cold and expectant.

Niel gulped. He shifted his feet and mumbled, "Maybe you can trust him..."

Ellie looked devastated. The hand hiding her face began to melt, too. Vlad smirked.

"See? You can trust me. Skulker, cut open her net. I want her to see that I'm trustworthy."

Skulker seemed reluctant, but he did as he was told. As soon as the net fell away, Ellie turned on Skulker and kicked his face.

It was easy to forget that such an innocent-looking girl like Ellie still knew how to fight, and even better than Niel. She had trained under Vlad during the brief time she was under his stay, and she no doubt must have fought for her life multiple times while living on the streets. Niel watched with dumb amazement as Ellie punched Skulker in the gut, dodged all his swings, and finally brought him to his knees by kicking his legs.

She didn't have time to enjoy her triumph over Skulker, because as soon as he went down, Vlad shifted into Plasmius and shot her with a pink ectoblast. Ellie was shoved onto the far wall and tumbled to the ground. The areas in her body that were melting had begun to turn green and slowly dripped onto the floor.

Seeing Ellie hurt snapped Niel out of his stupor. He whipped his head to look at his dad and saw him wearing a grin, his ghost form's vampiric fangs long and visible. For the first time, all those things that Danny and Sam and their friend told Niel about the evil deeds Vlad had done finally sunk in. His dad was a villain.

His dad was a villain.

Vlad made his way casually to where Ellie lay. She was trying to get onto her feet, but she kept falling down. The fact she was about 60% liquid now didn't help.

Niel was spurned into action. He ran in front of Ellie and spread his arms open, glaring Vlad down.

Vlad's mouth twitched. "Niel, move away."

Niel shook his head. "She doesn't want to stay. She doesn't have to."

"Ah, see, I wish that were true. Unfortunately, when you start to wonder about something like her moving around town...well, it's not a very normal sight, is it?" Vlad eyed her cheekily. "Sooner or later, someone will notice how odd you are, and then they're going to look into your past and link you back to me. I can't let that happen. So, you have only two options: let me fix you. Be my daughter. Or else, die."

Ellie managed to half-stand by leaning against the wall. She raised her chin and said, "Go to hell."

Vlad tutted. "I'm afraid that's a no. You heard her, Niel. If she doesn't want to join me, then she's not your sister. No need to protect her anymore."

Niel didn't move. "You--you want to kill her."

Vlad rolled his eyes, like this was another obvious math problem that Niel wasn't getting. "Were you not just listening to what I said?" He saw Niel's horrified expression, and he sighed and forced himself to soften. "Come on, Niel. This is for the safety of our family."

"You want to kill her," Niel repeated. "You don't care about family."

Vlad frowned. "I'm your father. Are you going to side with her over me?"

Something wet and cold wrapped around Niel's hand. He looked down and saw Ellie holding his hand, looking up at him pleadingly.

He swallowed back his bile and stared Vlad in the eyes. "Yes."

Vlad would never hit Niel outside of training. Vlad would never harm his son. Niel thought that was true.

Niel was wrong.

As soon as Vlad realized that Niel was serious and that he was not about to change his mind anytime soon, his face darkened. He grabbed Niel by the arms and shoved him aside. Niel fell onto the hard floor. He fell on his hand, forcing his fingers to bend at odd angles, and Niel had a feeling that would become very painful once he shifted back to human.

He bit his tongue and blinked his tears back, then turned in place to see Vlad. The villain reached toward Ellie. Niel's jaw tightened, and he pushed himself off the floor with his good hand and landed next to Ellie, hugging her melting form to his chest.

Vlad sighed. "Really?"

Green-stained liquid leaked from Ellie's eyes, though Niel couldn't tell if they were tears or more ectoplasm. He held her goopy form protectively and glared at Vlad.

In the corner of his vision, he saw Skulker stand up and approach them. Faced off against both him and Vlad, the odds were pretty obvious that Niel wasn't going to go free with Ellie in tow. He had already lost against Skulker once, and Ellie was in no shape to fight.

If he tried to go forward, or sideways, or up, he knew either of the ghosts would intercept him. But maybe not all hope was lost yet. Only a few feet to the side on the wall behind him lay Vlad's ghost portal.

Vlad caught Niel glancing at the portal, and his eyes widened. "Don't," he warned.

Niel, carrying Ellie, shot toward the portal. Both ghosts tried to stop him, but he was too fast. He pulled the lever that opened the blast doors and squeezed himself and Ellie through before they were fully open.

"Stop! I order you to come back!" Vlad shouted after them, but Niel ignored him. He sped through the Ghost Zone, not bothering to look back to see if Skulker was following them. The Ghost Zone blurred around them in lines of green and purple. Niel had never been allowed to visit this realm often, but now was not the time to appreciate the view.

He found a floating cluster of rocks and hid between them to catch his breath. His core thrummed anxiously, and the phantom sensation of his heart seemed to beat against his ribs.

"Danny," Ellie murmured. Niel looked down and had to hold himself back from grimacing. Her face was barely noticeable as a face now.

"I'm Niel," he softly told her.

"I know that, you idiot," she replied, her speech slurred from the fact that her mouth was melting. "I meant we should go to Danny's. He has Ecto-Dejecto."

Niel didn't know what an Ecto-Dejecto was, but he guessed it must be able to heal her problem. He peeked his head from around a rock and looked around. Just as he was beginning to despair the possibility of them getting lost, he spotted it: a metal frame in the distance. He knew it wasn't the one they went through, which meant it was the Fentons' portal.

The stone they were hiding behind suddenly burst. Niel shielded his face from the debris, then looked up to see Skulker flying toward them. Adrenaline high, Niel carried Ellie with him and zoomed toward the portal.

As he made his way toward it, his stomach sank again when he noticed that the blast doors were closed. They weren't going to make it. Skulker was going to catch them, they weren't going to make it--

Miraculously, the doors opened. Niel's core leapt with relief, and he burst through the portal and was greeted by the human world's air.

He and Ellie landed on a table full of half-built weapons, knocking most of them off. When Niel allowed himself to sit up and look around, he found Danny, in Phantom form, gaping at them with wide eyes. He was standing right next to the portal, a thermos in his hands, so he must have been about to empty the device into the Ghost Zone when Niel and Ellie came in.

Before Danny could ask them what the heck was going on, a third head poked through as Skulker followed them. Danny was quick to jump into action. He shot Skulker with an ectoblast and shoved him back into the portal. As soon as he was submerged in the green swirls, Danny slammed the button next to the portal, and the doors closed.

Once that was dealt with, Danny dropped his forgotten thermos and rushed toward Niel and Ellie. "Dani!" he exclaimed when he saw the melted girl.

She was little more than a puddle by now. Niel slid off the table and watched her with horror.

"It's my fault," he said. "If she wasn't with me--Vlad wouldnt have--"

"Vlad?" Danny said, then shook his head. "It's fine. I can help her, she just needs some Dejecto." He started rummaging around the lab for the Ecto-Dejecto while Niel stayed rooted in place.

"Vlad," Niel said, then sobbed. "Vlad was going to kill her. He was going to kill his own child."

Danny glanced over his shoulder briefly at Niel before continuing to search the lab. "It sounds like you went through some shit with the fruitloop, and I'd comfort you, but Dani really needs her..."

Niel covered his face and cried. All the shock and trauma cascaded down his cheeks in the form of tears as his shoulders shook with every sob. He felt stuck, trapped inside a bubble with no air, suffocating inside.

"I wish I can change everything," he whimpered.

The rummaging stopped. "Please tell me you didn't say the W-word," Danny said.

Niel brought his hands away to look at Danny. Instead, his eyes landed on the thermos on the floor that Danny dropped. The lid was open.

A green cloud of mist formed around Niel, and he heard a woman's chuckle. "So you have wished it," she said, "so it shall be."

The last thing he heard was Danny shouting a very rude swear before the green mist thickened and filled his vision.


	7. Second Chance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a day late oops. but hey, it’s also longer than the previous chapters, so that ought to make up for that, right?

Niel coughed and waved the last wisps of green smoke away from his face. When his vision cleared, he looked around and saw himself standing in...exactly the same spot he had been in, inside the Fentons' laboratory. Something was off, though. Danny and Ellie were gone. There didn't seem to be any trace that Ellie had melted anywhere in the lab. The table they had landed on was placed against a different wall, and instead of work-in-progress weapons, it was covered with blueprints.

Niel frowned as he tried to recall what last happened. He had made a wish, and then a ghost...a wish-granting ghost? Niel had wished something about change, but that wasn't definite enough to inform him of what that ghost might have done. Then he turned around and saw the portal--or rather, where the portal should have been.

The frame was still there, but in place of the glowing green swirls was a gaping hole. Tangles of cables slithered along the base. Niel didn't even know the portal _could_ be closed.

He wiped away the last tears from his face and furrowed his brows. So he made a wish about changing things...a ghost granted it...and now the portal was closed. That had to be related, right?

He heard footsteps descend the stairs, and he turned around and saw Danny frozen at the bottom, staring at him with wide eyes. Before Niel could say anything, Danny rushed to the nearest shelf and grabbed an ectogun, aiming it at Niel shakily.

"You--you're a g-ghost," Danny stammered.

Niel raised an eyebrow. "Um, yeah? It's me."

Danny looked confused. He didn't lower his weapon. "Ghosts--" he began, "ghosts are real?"

It was then that Niel finally noticed that something seemed different about Danny. He had less scars, less bags under his eyes, and...he was shorter? Vlad had designed his clones to be fourteen after the age he got Danny's DNA from, but by the time Niel was created, Danny was sixteen. He had always been a few inches taller than Niel due to the two extra years, but the Danny that stood before him now was the exact same height.

Blueprints, a closed portal, a younger Danny who didn't believe in ghosts...wait. Niel's stomach sank as he asked, "What year is it?"

Danny frowned, but then he said, "Oh, right. Ghosts come from different periods of time, right?"

He told him the date. It was two years ago.

Niel muttered a curse word under his breath. (It was harsher than Vlad's fake swears. The situation seemed appropriate.) He looked at Danny, who was still aiming that gun at him.

"Put that away," Niel said. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Danny hesitated, but he didn't lower the gun. "My parents--"

"They told you that all ghosts are bad, right?" Danny looked surprised, but Niel rolled his eyes and continued, "You're probably thinking that I'm trying to trick you into trusting me or something."

"And you're not?"

"No! I just want to find a way back to the Ghost Zone." Maybe then, he could find that wish ghost and make her undo whatever she had done to bring him here.

"How did you even get here? The portal isn't finished yet," Danny pointed out.

"Natural portal," Niel lied. "It shut as soon as I came through. Are you sure this portal here can't work?"

Danny shook his head, then said, "My parents made it. Maybe they can find a way to--"

"No!" Niel interrupted. He did _not_ want to deal with the famous ghost-hating Fenton couple. His exclamation startled Danny so much, the boy's finger squeezed around the trigger of his gun. A blast came out and shoved Niel onto the ground.

Danny dropped the gun in shock and covered his mouth. "I'm sorry," he said, then scrunched his face, as if wondering why he was apologizing to a ghost. Niel groaned. As he tried to push himself up, his hand screamed in pain, and he felt his ghost core pull away. Oh shit.

Danny recoiled as the rings of light spread across Niel. When Niel stood up again, fully human, Danny's jaw dropped.

"You look just like me," Danny said. "How...?"

Niel shrugged, then winced when his hand ached. Right. He'd forgotten that he broke a finger. Not to mention his burn from earlier...

"It's a long story," Niel said.

Danny must have noticed him wince, because his eyes travelled to Niel's hand. "Your fingers--"

Niel covered his injured hand. "They'll heal."

"You were just a ghost," Danny said dumbly. "And now..."

Niel shrugged again with one shoulder. "It's...a long story?"

Danny's face scrunched up, then stretched in surprise. "You asked me what date it was. And you look like me...Are you...me from the future?"

That was...a valid conclusion to jump to. "It's complicated," he answered. "Look, I just want to get to the Ghost Zone."

Danny's mouth moved wordlessly for a minute, and then he slowly slid down into a sitting position on the floor. "I think I need a moment to process this."

Niel tapped his foot impatiently. "Seriously?"

"Hey, I just found out that not only are ghosts real, but possibly time travel, too."

"You think that's bad? I'm the one who's stuck in the past, right after--" Niel clenched his jaw and swallowed. He couldn't just say ' _right after I discovered that the guy who cloned me from you doesn't actually care about his kids_ ' without delving into an explanation about the whole clone thing and why Vlad even wanted to clone Danny.

Danny looked up at Niel again and asked, "How did I become part ghost?"

"You part died, obviously."

"That doesn't make any sense. You can't be part dead."

"Yeah, well, you were. Or will be. You get what I mean." Niel shook his head and walked to where the empty portal frame stood. Something must have activated it in the future. He knew it had something to do with Danny gaining his powers, but he wasn't familiar with the details...

Danny stood up behind him. "Why don't you want Mom and Dad to help?"

"They're ghost hunters. I'm part ghost. Figure it out." His eyes traced the lines on the portal's sides. A few panels were sticking out, wires poking from beneath...

"But if you just explained things--"

For some reason, Niel felt a flare of anger in his chest, and he turned on Danny and snapped, "I'm sorry, who here is the half-ghost version of you from the future?"

He didn't know why he felt so angry at Danny, or why he was still pretending to be Danny from the future. Maybe he wanted him to hate his parents just like Niel hated Vlad. He knew that was despicable of him to wish for, but then again, he _was_ raised by a supervillain.

Danny took a step back, watching Niel with crestfallen eyes. A heavy footstep descended on the stairs, grabbing both boys' attention. "Dann-o? Is that you?" a voice called out. It was Jack.

Danny looked back at Niel, but the other boy was gone. Truth was, Niel just turned himself invisible, but Danny didn't know that. He turned in place, trying fruitlessly to spot where Niel had went, when Jack's large form peeked into the lab. "There you are. What are you doing in the lab?"

Danny stammered and said, "Um--"

But Jack just grinned and clapped him on the shoulder. "It's okay, son. If you were curious about ghosts, all you had to do was ask! Just don't be alone in the lab next time, all right?"

"Duly noted," Danny replied.

Niel silently moved toward the lab's exit. He glared at the back of Jack's head as he went. A part of him hoped the man would feel his stare and grow unsettled, but Jack seemed unperturbed.

He swerved past Maddie on the stairs to avoid passing through her as she went to join her husband. Then he picked up speed once he reached the top and phased through the Fenton household's front door.

He wanted to run, as far away from Fentonworks as possible, except moving his arm sent jolts of pain through his hand and he wasn't in the mood for Naruto running, so instead he sat down on the sidewalk and sighed. Welp, he was in the past, before Danny ever gained his ghost powers. That was certainly one way to allow him to "change everything".

The Fenton portal didn't work. Niel hadn't learned how to summon his own portals yet, and he doubted a natural portal would conveniently open up. He wondered if maybe the wish ghost could still be in the human world--she granted this wish, so she must have allowed herself some leverage, right? Maybe he could summon her if he said her name three times, like that musical about a ghost he pirated online once. The problem was that he didn't know what the wish ghost's name was. He was pretty sure he heard about her before, but...ugh, why did his memory have to suck?

Niel's stomach sank as he realized there was only one portal left he could use, and to get to it, he had to go to Vlad's house. At this point of time, Vlad hadn't even met Danny yet. He hadn't begun working on creating a perfect clone. How would Niel feel if he saw him? The image of Vlad's bloodred eyes and glinting fangs snarling at him as he tried to protect Ellie's melting form was still fresh in his brain.

Niel trembled, but he knew he had no choice. He stood up and began walking toward the mayor's mansion. He went a few steps before he paused as a realization hit him.

Was Vlad even mayor yet? It was two years ago. Vlad, from Niel's time, had been mayor for one year. That means he wouldn't move to Amity Park yet until next year.

Great! Not even Vlad's portal was in Amity Park. Niel wasn't sure if that dissapointed or relieved him. He would have to travel all the way to Wisconsin if he wanted to reach the Ghost Zone.

So, his options were either to travel to another state, or go back into Fentonworks and try to open the portal while no one was looking. If Danny turned half ghost from opening the portal, what would happen to Niel, since he was already half ghost? Would he become full ghost, or would the action somehow reverse his genes and make him full human? No, wait, that second option makes no sense. He'd probably just die and go full ghost.

"Danny?" someone said. He looked up and saw Danny's sister, Jazz. She was holding a book from the library and staring at him with furrowed brows. Oh, crackers, was he visible? He glanced down at himself, and sure enough, he was there. Niel mentally berated himself. Losing his invisibility just because he lost concentration? He should have trained his powers better than that.

"What did you do to your hair?" Jazz asked.

Niel unconsciously touched the shaven part of his hair and said with a shrug, "Impulse?"

Jazz frowned. "Carrying out drastic impulses isn't always healthy. It could be a sign of poor psychological health."

Niel was about to wonder why she suddenly started speaking like an encyclopedia, then he read the cover of the book she was holding. A psychology book. So she's into mental health.

"It's fine," Niel mumbled and tried to walk past her, but Jazz grabbed his hand. Unfortunately, it was his injured one, and he hissed as she closed her palm around his fingers. Jazz widened her eyes when she noticed his injuries.

"How did you--nevermind, that's not important. Why did you not heal your hand after you burnt and broke it? We do have a first aid kit."

"It'll heal."

"On its own?"

Right. Humans didn't heal as well as half-ghosts. Jazz shifted her grip onto his wrist and started pulling him inside.

"Jazz, it's fine," he insisted, but she didn't listen. She opened the front door to Danny's house and grabbed him through. His anxiety spiked, and he turned his wrist intangible to slip through her grip. Jazz turned back in surprise when her hands became empty, but at that point, it was too late--they were standing inside the Fentons' living room, and staring at them with wide eyes were the Fentons themselves, Danny included.

"Jazz, sweetie, who is that?" Maddie asked, craning her neck to get a good look at Niel.

Jazz turned around to answer, but her words died in her throat when she spotted the real Danny. "What? How--"

Maddie and Jack saw Niel, and they pulled out their guns. "It's a ghost impersonator," Jack exclaimed.

"That's ridiculous," Jazz quickly argued, but she was scowling at Niel in confusion, trying to figure out how and why he looked so similar to her brother. "Who _are_ you?"

The Fenton couple's weapons began to whir as they powered up, but Danny jumped in front of them and shouted, "Stop! He's me from a different time!"

Maddie frowned. "Are you saying he's a time traveller?"

Jack lowered his weapon and scratched his chin. "If ghosts are real, then why not time travel?"

"Well--" Maddie hesitated. "It's possible in theory, but..."

"None of this makes any sense!" Jazz interrupted, throwing her arms up. "Ghosts? Time travel? Look-alikes? What is going on?"

Niel stepped forward, and everyone quieted down to watch him with anticipation. "Maddie and Jack are right, actually," he said, then made his eyes flash red. "I am a ghost."

Maddie gripped her gun again, but Jazz protested, "You can't be a ghost, you're alive! I felt your pulse."

"He's part ghost," Danny murmured. Everyone but Niel turned to look at him.

"Part ghost? That's impossible," Maddie scoffed, though there was a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

"Of course _you_ would say that." Niel glared at them with his red eyes and said, "You don't care about scientific discoveries. You only care about fitting the world into your narrow theories."

Maddie frowned, obviously not liking what he was saying. Niel didn't care. He tugged on his core, and the others in the room stepped back in shock as he transformed with a flash of light.

He waited for them to raise their weapons again, or shout out ghost insults. Instead, Jack broke the silence by saying, "That was incredible!"

Niel faltered. "It...was?"

"You were just human--and then you weren't. How did you do that?"

There was no malicious tone in Jack's voice. In fact, he sounded genuinely curious. Maddie nodded in agreement, her eyes wide with wonder.

Niel glanced between them, his brows drawn together. "You're not going to shoot me? Because I'm a ghost?"

"You said we don't care about scientific discoveries," Maddie said. "I don't know where you got that idea from. Of course we're intrigued by new discoveries. Danny said you were only part ghost, and Jazz confirmed this by saying you have a pulse, which ghosts cannot have. That must mean you really are a human-ghost hybrid--something we thought was impossible, but we were wrong."

"We want to know everything," Jack said excitedly, then quickly added, "without hurting you, of course."

"Of course not," Maddie agreed. "We're not that amoral. We would never hurt a person, even if they were only part person."

Niel felt like a rug was being pulled from underneath him...until he held onto that last sentence, and his expression returned to a scowl. "So you wouldn't have cared about what happened me if I was a full ghost?"

Maddie hesitated. She and Jack exchanged a glance.

"To be fair, we've only ever heard stories about ghosts," Jack admitted, "and those stories always portrayed them as evil, so that was what we assumed them to be..."

"But if we gain proof against that, then of course we'll change our minds," Maddie completed.

"Really?" Niel said skeptically. "You won't assume the ghost is only pretending to be nice to trick humans into trusting him?" That was what he had always heard the Fentons say about Phantom on the news. The couple shifted guiltily.

Jazz watched the exchange in quiet calculation. "Hold up, so," she said to Niel, "are you or are you not from the future?"

"I am," he answered, which wasn't a lie.

"Then, something must have happened in your time to make you so bitter toward our parents. Am I right?"

Maddie and Jack were watching him apprehensively. Niel frowned. "You thought your son's ghost form is evil."

"We would never think that about Danny!" Jack exclaimed.

"Yeah, well, Danny didn't tell you about his ghost half."

"Why not?" Maddie wondered.

Niel met Danny's eyes. He knew the same thought was going through their heads. Danny glanced away and fidgeted. "Because...you hate ghosts," Danny said.

Immediately, the couple's expressions morphed into guilt. "Oh, sweetie," Maddie said. "We would never hate you if you became a ghost."

"Of course not!" Jack agreed. "Ectoplasmic or not, you'll always be our son."

Danny looked up at them hopefully. "Really?"

"Really," Maddie promised. She smiled, and Danny smiled back. Both of them were suddenly swept up by Jack's burly arms into a hug, causing Danny to laugh.

"We'll always care for our family," Jack said, then gestured for Jazz and Niel to join in.

"And we're sorry," Maddie told Niel. "Really. For anything we might have done--er, will have done in the future."

Jazz's lips quirked upward, and she joined in her family group hug. Niel did not.

He stayed rooted in his spot, watching them, while something akin to panic rose inside him.

"No!" he exclaimed, surprising the family. "No, you're supposed to hate ghosts! You're supposed to hate me!"

"Scientists can be wrong," Maddie said, startled from his outburst. "Whatever we said, we can make it up to you."

Niel trembled. This was wrong. This was all wrong--the Fentons weren't supposed to be such great parents! And yet he couldn't deny the heartwarming scene in front of him. Maddie and Jack cared for their children...

...Vlad did not.

How ironic was that? Niel had spent so much time thinking that Danny would be better off under Vlad's care than under his parents'. Now, everything was flipped. Vlad was horrible, and the Fentons--

The Fentons were gazing at him warmly, Jack's arms still outstretched in an invitation for Niel to join them in their group hug.

"Danny," Jazz said softly. "It's okay. I think they can change."

Niel didn't meet her eyes. Danny, she had called him. They all still thought he was a future version of Danny. And Niel...didn't want that to change.

Danny's family was amazing, he now realized. And they thought he was their son. They thought he was a part of them. Maybe, if he kept lying, he could be a part of their family, and then he'll never have to return to Vlad ever again.

That thought grew in his head until it was all he could think of. He was brought here on a wish, and that wish was being granted. He could be a part of a real family, and as an added bonus, Danny wouldn't have to go through his accident or fight any ghosts if they never completed the portal. Everyone would be happy. He, Danny, and--

Oh. Guilt swam in his stomach as he realized he had forgotten all about his sister--his real sister, not Jazz. If he stayed, Ellie would never had been made.

"What's the matter, dear?" Maddie asked. Niel swallowed.

"I'm..." he sighed and said, "I'm not your son."

He looked at Maddie nervously to see her reaction...and was confused to see that her expression hadn't changed from its warm smile. Then he looked at everyone else and realized she wasn't the only one--none of them had moved one millimeter.

"Um...hello?" he asked and waved in front of their faces. None of them even blinked. What the f--

"Hi," a new voice said, and Niel screamed and jumped in surprise.

He whipped around and found a smiling ghost. The ghost was blue-skinned and wore a purple cloak along with what must have been a dozen watches. As if those weren't enough to tell him the time, he also held a scepter with one more little clock on top.

As Niel watched, the ghost shifted from a young adult, to an old adult, a child, then back again. A light flicked on inside his brain.

"You're that time ghost," he said. "I've heard about you. Your name had to do with clocks or watches...um...Watchman?"

The ghost chuckled. "Close enough. It's Clockwork."

"You're supposed to be a myth."

Clockwork spread his arms and asked, "Do I seem like a myth to you?"

"I guess not," Niel admitted. "Assuming the myths are true, you either control time, or you have a deep obsession with collecting watches."

"Har har, very funny," Clockwork said. His monotone voice somehow made his words sound funnier. "You know, you're just as witty as he is," he said and pointed his clock-staff at Danny.

"I like to think im wittier," Niel said casually. Internally, he may have been freaking out. Clockwork might not be a myth, but he sure as hell was a legend. One who was talking to _him_.

Clockwork hummed and floated over to the Fentons, who stood still as statues--frozen in time, Niel now realized.

"They're a nice family, aren't they?" Clockwork commented. Despite how legendary the time ghost was, Niel suddenly found himself biting his tongue to stop himself from retorting. If the myths were true, then Clockwork knew all about Niel's (half)life. He knew how much emotional turmoil this revelation caused him.

"Maybe," was what Niel ended up saying.

Clockwork shifted into a child. Maybe he did it to spite Niel. "You were very hateful to the parents."

"They hate ghosts."

"But not their son."

Niel pursed his lips. He looked at the frozen Danny, being held in frozen Maddie's arms as she smiled. "I guess...maybe they deserve a second chance."

"Indeed," Clockwork hummed and returned to the Fentons. Niel found himself wishing the time ghost didn't act so aloof. He was observing the Fentons like they were an art exhibit, and Niel was a fellow tourist. "You know, you were never meant to be transported to this time," he mentioned to Niel. "Desiree--that's the name of the wish ghost, by the way--she grants wishes, but usually they're supposed to stay small. Nothing as big as changing the timeline."

Desiree. So that was her name. "What happened to her?" Niel found himself asking.

"I'm afraid she's being trialled."

"What?"

Clockwork turned away from the Fentons to look at him. His form jumped from child to old man, so his face looked more serious as he spoke. "Like I said, changing the timeline is a big deal. The Observants aren't happy with her. If this were a one-time thing, they might have let her go, but this wasn't the first time she went too far with her wishes. Time was never supposed to be a part of her arsenal."

"What...punishment do they have for her?" Niel asked. Even though he never interacted with her much, he found himself sympathizing with her.

Clockwork shrugged. "The Observants no doubt have some severe punishment in mind, but I might convince them to go soft on her. Get them to sentence her for a hundred years in jail, maybe."

"That's supposed to be soft?"

"Desiree herself is several hundreds of years old. One century isn't long when you're immortal."

"That's fair, I guess..."

Clockwork observed him with his pupil-less eyes. His form shifted again into a young adult. "I don't believe you feel sorry for her because she granted your wish, do you?" He waved at the Fentons and added, "Surely you know you can't stay here forever."

Niel knew. As soon as Clockwork appeared, he figured the time ghost was here to transport him back to his own time. Still, hearing that from him felt disappointing.

"I don't want to go back to Vlad," Niel murmured.

"You don't have to," Clockwork pointed out. "After all, your sister seems to be doing just fine on her own."

Niel wrinkled his nose. "I'm not living on the streets."

"I don't know. It might do you some good humility." Niel wondered if Clockwork was joking, and then he saw the ghost's grin. Niel frowned.

Clockwork chuckled. Then he turned serious again. "But really. You don't belong in this timeline."

"I know," Niel said dejectedly. That didn't make him feel any better.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Clockwork by his side. "You will be part of a family someday," the time ghost told him. Niel didn't believe that. But Clockwork _can_ see the future, so maybe, just maybe, that was true.

Niel looked at the frozen family once more. "What will happen to them?"

"Their memories of their encounter with you will be erased, obviously. Their fate will progress as it has been written. Things will return to normal--as normal as it is considered for Amity Park."

"And what will happen to me?"

Clockwork gave him a knowing smile. "Telling you would be a spoiler, wouldn't it?"

Niel was quiet for a moment. Then he opened his mouth to say something, but when he blinked, Clockwork wasn't there. A few more blinks, and he realized he was no longer standing in the Fentons' living room. The smells of stale ectoplasm, batteries, and sterilizer filled the air. He was in the Fentonworks laboratory, and judging from the light seeping through the crack between the portal's closed blast doors, he was back in his own time.

"--uck!" Danny said, then stopped. "Oh. Nothing happened. Huh."

Niel turned around and saw Danny rubbing his neck in embarrassment. "I thought, since you said the word 'wish'--but nothing happened..."

Niel's vision moved away from Danny and landed on Ellie. Ellie, who was little more than a puddle. Ellie, who had been attacked by her and Niel's own father, if Vlad can even be called that.

Danny followed his eyes to Ellie. "Oh, right. Don't worry, I've got the Ecto-Dejecto right..." He turned back to Niel, but he was gone. The portal doors were open. "...here."

Niel floated aimlessly through the Ghost Zone. He couldn't stand another second inside that lab, seeing Ellie like that. But he couldn't stand the thought of returning to Vlad, either. So here he was, drifting through the Infinite Realms.

Now that he wasn't currently being pursued by Skulker, he had the time to take in the scenery. Blobs of ectoplasm floated here and there, making the world seem like an oversized lava lamp. Islands, rocks, and doors floated here and there. Occasionally, a ghost flew by in the distance.

Niel didn't feel any wonder from seeing the view. He felt empty. He felt...lost.


	8. Lost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> late chapter...again. turns out after updating daily for a week it gets pretty draining so i probably wont be doing that anymore. i wont abandon my boy! just update more slowly from now on

It had been about a day since Niel began wandering through the Ghost Zone. It was hard to tell for sure, especially when there was no sun and his watch was only visible in his human form, but it certainly felt like it.

Niel knew that Skulker could have easily found him ages ago. He had tracked him down once and probably had his ecto-signature to track him again, yet so far the hunter never appeared in his path. That meant either Skulker was letting him go in spite of Vlad's orders (unlikely), or Vlad decided to give Niel some space.

That was fine by him, Niel thought as he kicked a stray pebble floating in the air. He didn't even _want_ to go back to Vlad.

He was hungry. Even though he was a ghost, he was still part human, and that human part was aching for food. Niel hadn't eaten anything in the Ghost Zone because he wasn't sure if the ghost plants he found were edible or not and he wasn't in the mood to commit his first act of cannibalism.

Despite his sour mood, he still refused to return to the human world. He would rather outrun monstrous ghost whom territories he accidentally stepped foot in than face Vlad again. Sure, he already missed a day of school, but that problem seemed small from his point of view.

Well, that, and he was utterly lost. He knew the location of neither the Fenton portal nor Vlad's portal. It wasn't his fault he didn't realize that wandering out so far would eventually lead him too far away from either portal to spot by eye. Okay, so maybe it was his fault.

A shuddering, deep moan entered his ears and vibrated his guts. Niel sighed and readied himself to fight or flee from whatever ghost decided to attack him this time. Not even a second passed before said ghost appeared in his vision. It looked like the skeleton of a humongous whale.

Niel flew back and lit his fists with pink ectoplasm, but before he could act, a small figure whizzed past him toward the skeletal whale. The ghost was short, had green hair, wore a silly pirate outfit...and he was a kid! There was no way he could have been any older than nine before he died, yet he held up a toy sword and puffed his chest out at the much larger ghost animal.

"Avast! Begone, beast!" he shouted and stabbed at the whale's thick bones. Niel watched with inquisitive horror. He had no doubt that the whale could crush the tiny ghost boy with one swing of its flipper--and yet it appeared to make a great show of turning over and lying defeated after the boy thrust his sword, even somehow raising a flipper over its head melodramatically...were the two ghosts _playing_?

The ghost boy's eyes darted to Niel, only then noticing the halfa's existence. His eyes widened and he said with a grin, "A new playbuddy!"

Niel floated back in surprise as the boy suddenly threw away his toy sword and brought himself up to Niel's face. The whale looked disgruntled, like it was unhappy with being so quickly ignored.

Now that the boy was up close, he seemed to be studying Niel's appearance. "You look a lot like that Phantom guy. Are you a fanboy or something?"

The first question humans often asked Niel when they noticed his similarity to Danny was whether they were related. The first question _ghosts_ asked when they noticed the similarity was... _that_. Genes rarely mattered for a ghost's appearance--instead, that was largely influeneced by how they viewed themselves. Niel had even passed by a more modern ghost earlier who had asked if he was a Phantom kinnie.

"I'm not," Niel answered with a huff. "This is just how I looked like before I died--minus the blue skin, red eyes, and fangs, of course."

The boy rolled his eyes exaggeratingly and said, "Dude, it's okay. I love to play pretend, too!"

"I'm not--" Niel began, but he was interrupted when the ghost thrust his hand out and said, "I'm Youngblood! I fought the real Phantom before, you know--but then again, who didn't?"

Niel didn't know why Danny would have fought a child, but he gingerly shook Youngblood's hand and said, "I'm Niel. _Not_ a Phantom kinnie."

"Whatever you say, Niel." Youngblood beamed and added, "Hey, even if you didn't choose to look like Phantom on purpose--which I still don't believe--this is perfect for a game! I can pretend to be a ghost attacking the humans, and you pretend to be the nasty Phantom stopping me."

"Is that really a game ghosts play?" Niel asked, smiling in spite of himself.

"It is now," Youngblood responded with a grin. He turned to the skeletal whale and shouted, "Bones! You be the human I'm about to kill!"

Niel subtly grimaced at Youngblood's suggestion. If he really found it normal to kill humans, at least Niel now knew why Danny might have fought him before.

Just as Niel was wondering how a whale would play as a human, the skeleton began to disassemble and shift into something smaller. A minute later, Youngblood's friend was now a human skeleton.

"I told you to be a human, not a human skeleton!" Youngblood whined. "Lots of ghosts look like human skeletons!"

The skeleton rolled his eyes and said, "You know my shapeshifting doesn't allow me to have skin."

Youngblood puffed his cheeks angrily but didn't argue. Then he lit up and said, "Wait, I have a better idea for someone Phantom would fight!"

As Niel watched, his pirate outfit disappeared to be replaced by a fancy suit that looked exactly like the one Vlad wore. His green hair was magically slicked back. Bones seemed to have known what Youngblood wanted him to do before he could tell him, because he turned into a cat skeleton that looked like how Maddie the cat might have been without flesh and fur.

Niel felt his stomach churn. Here he was in the Ghost Zone to avoid meeting Vlad, and now Youngblood made himself look like a kiddie version of the man. Before Niel's dread could grow, Youngblood released a comically evil laugh and said in a fake British accent, "So we meet yet again, Phantom."

"Vlad doesn't talk in a British accent," Niel said before he could stop himself.

"Who the heck is Vlad? I'm just pretending to be a cliche evil rich guy."

Was Vlad really that cliche? Sure, Sam had told Niel that rich people were evil (which was a weird thing to say when both she and Niel were rich themselves), but he never thought of Vlad as a British Bond villain.

"Well?" Youngblood prompted. "Are you going to attack me or not, Phantom?"

Niel's body felt like freezing up. Even if Youngblood didn't intend to look like Vlad, the similarity was still there. Niel didn't like being called Phantom, either. It made him think of all the ways Vlad compared him to Danny.

Fake Maddie the cat swished his boney tail and said, "I don't think he wants to play with us."

"What!" Youngblood exclaimed. "Why not? I get to pick the game and everyone has to play with me!"

"I don't want to play," Niel admitted once his throat managed to work again.

Youngblood scowled. Niel half expected him to start attacking him, but instead he turned his back to him with crossed arms and loudly stated, "You're even more boring than the _real_ Phantom."

Niel was trying to find a way to respond to that when a loud growl approached them. It couldn't have been Bones because he was still in his small cat form. The skeleton arched his back and hissed, "There's a ghost beast approaching."

Rather than react with fear, Youngblood lit up with excitement. "Finally! I get to hunt down something real instead of you pretending badly to die when I hit you!" His "evil rich guy" outfit was replaced by a hunter's outfit, and his skeleton friend shifted into a grayhound. Youngblood held up his shotgun ( _the kid had a shotgun?!?!_ ) and flew eagerly to where the noise came from.

Niel cursed under his breath and flew after him. Evil or not, he wasn't about to allow a kid to get mauled by a ghost beast under his watch.

The beast turned out to be a fish. A very large fish that stretched a mile long. Whatever goldfish died to form this ghost, it must have had a big ego when it was alive.

When Youngblood saw that the ghost was an aquatic animal, his outfit changed into a fisherman's, and his gun became a harpoon. He eagerly approached the huge fish and aimed his weapon.

The spear hit the fish--and was promptly knocked off one of its scales harmlessly. The fish turned one large eye to stare at Youngblood, and Niel somehow got the feeling it wasn't happy with the child.

Youngblood finally seemed to realize that maybe angering a ghost ten times his size wasn't such a great idea. He gulped as the ghost fish began to glow.

"Uh...nice fishie?"

The fish's eye glowed red before shooting out a beam of ectoplasm. Youngblood screamed. Niel jumped into action and shoved him out of harm's way just in time, the fiery ectoplasm grazing the end of his cape.

"Dead fish with lazer vision," Niel muttered. "Sure, why not?"

He looked down at Youngblood only to see that the boy wasn't there. He turned around and saw that Bones was now a cheetah, and Youngblood had ridden on his skeletal back and was now riding far away from the ghost fish.

"Bye Niel thanks for saving me have fun with the fishie!" Youngblood shouted as he and Bones shrunk to a distant speck.

"Hey! Are you really going to leave me?!" Niel shouted back angrily, but Youngblood was gone. If the kid weren't already dead, Niel would definitely have killed him.

Niel gulped and looked back at the fish, whose glow hadn't become any dimmer. Were fish teeth always that sharp, or did ectoplasm make its teeth sharper?

Niel screamed and fled as the ghost pursued him with more lazers. He was just about to accept that he was going to die via dead mutant fish when the animal released a pained sound. Niel looked back and saw a spear embedded in a chink between its scales that Youngblood had failed to find. At least, Niel thought it was a spear, but he looked closer and realized it was actually a long, sharp shard of glowing ice. More ice appeared from nowhere and impaled the fish, and Niel turned around to see where it had come from.

A group of furry humanoids with white pelts and icy-blue snouts approached. The fish flailed around, ectoplasm leaking from its wounds, but eventually it stopped and...Niel would say "died", but he wasn't sure if that was an accurate description when it was already a ghost. Its glow did dim to nonexistent, though.

The furry ghosts--Niel decided they looked like yeti--came to the fish and grabbed the ice out of its ectoplasmic flesh. One of them wearing a cape turned around and looked at Niel. He (Niel assumed it was a he) looked terrifying. His eyes were yellow, his teeth looked sharp between his lips, and his arm--his arm was a bunch of bones frozen in ice!

Niel trembled under the ghost yeti's gaze, ready to flee, but the ghost didn't attack. Instead, he squinted his eyes and asked, "Great One?"

"Huh?" Niel replied.

"No, that is not right," the yeti said, still observing him. "Your skin is different. You must be someone else--but you look just like him."

"You mean Danny?" Niel asked. He didn't know why someone would call Danny a Great One, but the yeti's expression seemed to confirm his guess.

"You know him? Ah, but of course. You must be a fan."

"I'm not a Phantom fanboy," Niel protested, but the ghost threw his head back and laughed.

"Do not worry! You could say we are fans of him, too. After all, he was the one who defeated Pariah Dark and saved the Ghost Zone!"

Niel didn't know who Pariah Dark was, but he guessed that answered the question of calling Danny a great one.

Niel's eyes darted to the doubly-dead fish. The ghost followed his vision and smiled. "A succeful hunt, if I may say so myself."

"You guys are hunters? Like Skulker?"

"Skulker?" The ghost seemed appalled at that comparison. "Goodness, no! We only hunt _animal_ ghosts--and for food, not prizes!"

"Ghosts need to eat?"

The ghost smiled sheepishly and said, "Well, we do not _need_ to...but ectoplasmic meat does taste pretty good." He waved an icy hand and added, "Anyway, it is fine. Ghosts cannot really die. The animal will reform after we eat it."

To Niel, the idea of being eaten and then reforming sounded worse than simply being eaten once, but he was too intimidated by the yeti to say so. While his friends began pulling the fish carcass to where he guessed was their lair, Mr. Ice Arm lingered by Niel and said, "If you do not mind me asking, what were you doing in the middle of nowhere by yourself?"

 _I wouldn't have been by myself if that little brat hadn't betrayed me_ , Niel thought, but he pushed down his bitterness and answered, "I'm lost."

"Lost?" The yeti stroked his chin and said, "We have a map back at our lair. Perhaps you can borrow it long enough to return yourself home."

"You want me to follow you to your lair?" Niel asked, then narrowed his eyes and added, "This isn't a trick so you can eat me, is it?"

The yeti's eyes widened, and he said, "Of course not! I already told you, animal ghosts only. And besides, any friend of Phantom's is a friend of ours."

Niel was beginning to realize that these yeti were the only ghosts he'd come across so far who had neither attacked him nor flipped him off, which meant they must be a rare breed of _good_ ghosts. It seemed a little strange that a nine-year-old child would be Danny's enemy while a towering heap of fur and muscles was a friend, but that was how things were.

"Yeah, okay," Niel answered. "I'll follow you, I guess."

The yeti smiled, then said, "Oh! But you cannot follow a stranger to their lair, can you?" He offered his icy arm and introduced, "My name is Frostbite."

"Niel," Niel said and accepted his handshake. Frostbite's hand was cold, but his smile was warm.

Frostbite's lair was in a freezing part of the Ghost Zone--and considering how cold the Ghost Zone generally was, that was saying something. Niel shivered as the coolness seeped past his ghost form, but he hid his discomfort as best as he could. Frostbite's friends had cut the ghost fish apart and served its pieces in dishes on a long dining table outdoors. Many similar-looking ghosts had come out of caves and seated themselves around the table excitedly. Niel was surprised to see that some of them looked like children--little yeti children, of course.

Niel was starving, but he wasn't sure if eating ghost food would help. Would it satiate his half-human stomach, or would he need human food to be full?

"Is something the matter?" Frostbite asked, noticing his hesitation.

Niel ran a hand through his hair nervously and said, "This is a weird request, but do you have any human world food?"

He expected Frostbite to look at him weird, but instead the ghost chuckled and said, "Ah, you are a young ghost, are you not?"

"I'm not that young," Niel said, automatically growing defensive of his age.

Frostbite chuckled again and placed a hand around Niel's shoulders. "It is all right, I know it takes some ghosts a long time to adjust. Luckily for you, I do have human food!"

"You do?" Niel said, equal parts relieved and surprised.

"Of course. I told you we are Phantom's allies, did I not? Sometimes the Great One visits with his human friends, so we are always prepared in case a human visits us."

Just like Frostbite promised, the yeti tribe did store a stash of fruits and bread from the human world, which they placed upon the table on Frostbite's request. None of the ghosts seemed that interested in the food, but Niel scarfed it down hungrily. He had been allowed a seat at the table, and if anyone found that strange, they didn't show. Most of the adults ignored him, although a few children asked him questions curiously.

"Why do you look like Phantom?" one of them said.

"Genes," Niel replied.

The ghost scrunched her face up and asked, "What do pants have to do with anything?"

"No, not jeans. Genes with a G, as in DNA."

"DNA is made of pants?"

Niel decided that describing genetics to a ghost was too hard and let the subject drop.

After the meal was over, Frostbite led Niel to a cave. He wasn't kidding when he said they were fans of Danny--the walls were covered with paintings depicting his great defeat over Pariah Dark. Some of them were poorly scribbled and honestly looked a bit funny (there was one drawing of his face in particular that seemed to stare into Niel's soul).

Still, standing inside a literal shrine for Phantom, Niel felt a pang of insignificance. Vlad had expected Niel to become better than Danny, but his original had done so many amazing feats that Niel was certain he could never overcome. How was he supposed to compare to the "savior of the Ghost Zone" who defeated the king of ghosts? Yes, he knew he was his own person, but he still couldn't help but feel like a rip-off of someone greater.

"Young ghost?" Frostbite called from where he stood by a tunnel leading to a deeper cave. "Come, the map is this way."

Niel swallowed back his emotions and followed the ghost. They emerged in a room full of maps and compasses, but Frostbite ignored those in favor of a glowing chest in the center. He opened it and pulled out a scroll that unfurled to reveal a complete map of the Ghost Zone.

"A ghost artifact," Niel said, sensing the map's power.

"Correct," Frostbite confirmed. "The Infi-map can take you anywhere in the realms. All you have to do is tell it where to go."

Niel stepped forward to hold the map, but he stopped and hesitated. He thought about the cave next to them showing Danny's greatest achievements. He thought about those times Vlad spent training Niel, barking at him with contempt about how much he needed to improve to even be near Danny's level, how Danny was better than him unless he worked harder. He thought about Youngblood dressing like Vlad because he thought that was how a villain looked, and he thought about Vlad's uncaring eyes as he watched Ellie destabilize.

"Well?" Frostbite asked when Niel hadn't moved to take the map. Niel lowered his head and rubbed at his arm.

"Um," he said with a small voice, "do you think I could stay here a while longer?"

Frostbite softened, and he put the map back into its chest. "Of course. You are free to stay here for as long as you like." As he closed the chest's lid, he tapped a claw against it then said, "You are not just lost in location, are you?"

"No," Niel admitted sadly.

Frostbite wrapped his non-ice arm around Niel and gently brought him to his chest. His fur was incredibly soft, and Niel found himself melting into his pelt comfortingly.

"I will not pretend to know what you are going through, but just know that my people are always kind to our guests. You can stay with us here at the Far Frozen until you find yourself."

"And if I don't?" Niel asked, his voice mumbled through Frostbite's fur.

"Then you can still stay with us for however long you wish."

Niel held back his tears so he wouldn't cause Frostbite's fur to become wet. He squeezed his arms around the ghost and mumbled, "Thank you."

Frostbite smiled at him. Even though his teeth were still big and sharp, Niel no longer thought he looked terrifying. He was an incredibly kind ghost, and Niel trusted him more than he trusted Vlad.

Frostbite led them outside of the maps room and the Danny shrine, and into a different cave covered with skinned pelts that Niel guessed must have come from the animals they hunted. Niel didn't know ectoplasm could be warm, but when he sat on a pile of furs that looked like a bed, he found that they warded off the harsh cold of the lair and made him almost sigh in relief.

Frostbite explained to him that they had several cave spaces for sleeping (more like resting, since ghosts didn't need to sleep, not really) and that this one was free for guests to use. He left Niel alone while the smaller ghost nestled himself into the furs greedily. Niel didn't even remember drifting to sleep, only that he closed his eyes and found himself in his dreams...or rather, nightmares.

He couldn't remember everything from his dream, but he remembered enough to know there was Vlad, a lab, a pod breaking, melting and crying. Niel jolted awake with a gasp. At first, he thought he was shuddering from the nightmare, but then he realized that he was freezing cold.

It took him a second to remember that he was in the Far Frozen, and another to notice that he felt even colder than yesterday. He looked down and realized why. His human hands were exposed, the tips of his fingers turning blue. The clothes he was wearing in his human form were not meant to be worn in snow at all.

Niel's teeth chattered as he wrapped the furs around him to keep himself from freezing his limbs off. He was about to transform into his ghost form when a shadow appeared at the cave's entrance.

"Honored guest? I heard crying--" Frostbite said before he froze (heh) at the sight of Niel. Niel looked guilty as he stammered out, "I can explain--"

"You are human," Frostbite said. Then he raised his eyebrows and said, "You are not only similar to Phantom in appearance, are you?"

Niel shrugged sheepishly and admitted, "I'm...his clone."

Niel didn't know how he expected Frostbite to react, but Frostbite just said, "Why did you not say so? We could have served you much better knowing you were a half-ghost!" As Niel watched, the ghost pulled back a curtain and grabbed what looked like a heavy fur coat. He really _was_ prepared in case of human visitors. Frostbite offered Niel the coat, fussing over him all the while.

"I just said I'm a clone," Niel pointed out after wearing the coat (it did stop making him feel like his toes were about to freeze off at any minute). "You don't think that's weird or anything?"

"Weird? Of course not. The Great One has already introduced us to one clone of his--Danielle, I believe."

"Ellie visited this place?"

Frostbite nodded and explained, "The Great One wanted this Danielle to know of what places in the Ghost Zone were safe for her to visit in case she ever needed to leave the human world." His eyes gently met Niel's, and he added, "I know not of who may have cloned you, or if your relationship to Phantom is the same as Danielle's, but I believe that offer of protection extends to you as well. I meant what I told you yesterday. You can stay here whenever and however long you like."

Niel's eyes teared up with emotion (or maybe it was just the cold) and he repeated, "Thank you."

He wanted to thank Frostbite a thousand times more, and he probably would have, but just then one of Frostbite's tribemates entered the cave and said, "Someone has entered our territory."

Frostbite looked back at him and asked, "An ally?"

"The metal hunter."

Frostbite's expression hardened. Niel gripped his coat shakily. He didn't know if there were many metal hunters in the Ghost Zone, but he was almost entirely certain that the yeti was referring to Skulker.

Frostbite must have sensed his unease, because he cast a worried glance at Niel, but Niel kept his face neutral and straightened himself, trying to look courageous. He didn't want to hide behind the Far Frozen tribe while Skulker came for him. He transformed into his ghost half and met Frostbite's eyes, silently telling him that he would be meeting this ghost.

Frostbite broke their eye contact and walked outside. Niel followed him.

Sure enough, Skulker stood waiting in the snow. His suit appeared to steam slightly, and Niel wondered if he had a heating system installed to protect the suit from freezing over.

Skulker's optics landed on Niel, and he grumbled, "Whelp."

"Just whelp? Have I upgraded from knockoff whelp?" Niel retorted.

Skulker didn't reply. Instead, he said, "Plasmius wants you back."

"Took him long enough. I've been away for two days."

"He thought giving you some...time alone would be necessary."

"Are you sure you just don't want to admit that you sucked at tracking me?" Niel said with a taunting smirk. Skulker growled and fisted his hands, but Frostbite snarled at him as if to say, _Try to hurt him. I dare you._

Niel loved Frostbite.

Skulker huffed and turned back to Niel. "You and I both know that is not the case. Although, if you ask me, I don't see why Vlad even wants you around."

"Thanks," Niel muttered.

"You could let me return you to Vlad, or I can ignore his orders. Your pelt won't have as high a quality as a natural halfa, but it would be close enough."

"Flattering offer. But no thanks."

"Or there is a third option," Frostbite spoke. "He could stay with us."

Skulker eyed Frostbite like he was trying to think of an insult to throw at him, or maybe he was judging the quality of his fur. Niel knew that Frostbite would fight to protect him if needed, but that thought didn't give him as much comfort as it should have. He clenched his jaw and swallowed, then said, "No. It's fine. I'll...I'll go back to Vlad."

Frostbite stared at him in surprise. "Are you certain?"

He wasn't. But he also didn't want to stay among a tribe that worshipped Danny forever while he spent his nights having nightmares about Vlad without ever confronting his father.

Clockwork had told him that he would be part of a family someday. A part of him had hoped it would be Frostbite's tribe, but something in his guts told him that wasn't the case. Whatever family he would meet, it wouldn't be here. Niel wondered if Clockwork was watching him right now.

He forced a reassuring smile onto his face at Frostbite, then frowned at Skulker and stepped forward.

"I'm certain."

Skulker's faceplate hadn't shifted from its scowl as he brought forth a handcuff and linked himself to Niel. Probably, he needed to be sure the clone wouldn't run off during their trip but thought that holding his hand would ruin his image. Niel turned back to Frostbite and wanted to say some heartfelt goodbye, but what came out instead was a yelp as Skulker impatiently tugged him away from the yeti's home. Frostbite understood what he wanted though, and he waved to him as they left.

Skulker spent the entire journey grumbling about how his job isn't to babysit, and Niel spent the trip dreading his upcoming face-to-face with Vlad.

He doesn't remember when he stopped feeling afraid and started to feel furious instead.


	9. Glow

Niel was seeing red. Literally.

Colors often looked different in ghost form, but this time, everything was red. Maybe that was from the red glow coming from his eyes. They had begun to radiate at some point on the way home and hadn't stopped. Skulker was casting frequent glances at him, and if Niel didn't know any better, he would have thought the hunter looked nervous.

On any other occasion, that detail would have sent Niel over the moon. However, Niel was feeling too angry to care. He was angry that Vlad would ignore him for two days before finally sending a lackey to check on him instead of coming himself. He was angry that Vlad had done all this after he almost killed Niel's sister and that he was still expecting Niel to come back. Most of all, he was angry with himself for having trusted him all those months.

The glow from his eyes intensified with these thoughts.

The duo made it through the portal and landed in Vlad's lab. The millionaire himself was pacing around the room when he saw them. He approached them with a look of--relief?--before pausing and squinting his eyes at the glow.

"Still angry with me, I see," he noted.

Niel glared, his eyes casting red light across Vlad's obnoxious face. Skulker released his cuffs from Niel's wrist. "I'll leave you two be," he said and flew back into the portal, leaving the father and son alone.

"You were going to kill Ellie," Niel spoke.

"You mean Danielle? I've told you, she's--"

"A failure?" Niel seethed. "She's also a conscious being, and you know that. It still would've counted as murder."

Vlad's face twitched, then he sighed defeatedly. "No, you're right. I'm sorry."

Niel blinked in surprise. He wasn't expecting Vlad to apologize so easily. The glow from his eyes dimmed ever so slightly, but it returned to its brightness as Niel bit back, "You think apologizing changes anything?"

Vlad looked...surprised, like he wasn't expecting Niel to argue back. Niel's scowl deepened.

"Look, just give me a chance to make it up to you," Vlad said.

"By leaving Ellie alone?" Niel retorted.

"Surely you understand, I was only doing it to protect us--"

"But how do I know you care about me when you don't care about any of the other clones?"

"I already told you, I wouldn't have gone public with you if i didn't plan on keeping you around."

"So...you only care about me for publicity?"

Vlad froze, and his eyes widened. He put on a friendly smile. "No! of course not!" He grabbed Niel's hands and said, "You're my son, Niel."

Even though he had started calling him by his name, Vlad still seemed to hesitate whenever he said it, like he was forcing himself not to call him Daniel. Maybe that was what caused Niel to pull his hands away and growl. "If I'm your son, then why do you never care?"

"I do!"

"Oh yeah? What's my favorite science subject?"

Vlad was beginning to frown, growing impatient with Niel. "It's astronomy, of course."

Niel's eyes flashed again as he said, "Wrong. That's _Danny's_ favorite subject. Mine is biology."

Vlad faltered for a second before he spread his arms with a forced smile and said, "Well then, I'm learning new things about you! Isn't that great?"

Niel didn't think that was great. His red vision was starting to get encroached by green, and he realized he was tearing up. "You know, I used to read stories with families in them and think they were unrealistic because of how close the parents were to their kids...but hey, it was fiction, so obviously that was fake, right?"

Vlad's expression grew sober as Niel continued. "I thought you loved me, even if the only times you spent with me were in front of guests and reporters. I mean, you buy me all this cool stuff, so that must mean you care, right?" Droplets fell down the clone's cheeks. He thought back to Jack and Maddie, how they wrapped their arms around Danny and Jazz in a hug, and how happy the family looked together. Even the ghosts in the Far Frozen were tender as the adult yeti looked after their young. "I don't think you really love me," Niel said, "and I don't think I love you, either."

Niel looked at Vlad, waiting for his reaction. Vlad was staring at a spot on Niel's cheek, and as he watched, his expression grew more and more troubled. At first, Niel thought that was because of what he had said, but then he began to wonder if Vlad had even been listening. Vlad raised a finger...then suddenly poked Niel in the cheek.

Niel flinched. "Hey, what are you--"

But Vlad was muttering, "No, no, no. You were supposed to be perfect."

Those words made Niel's stomach sink. Something was wrong. His vision was swimming with green, but he was beginning to suspect that wasn't from his tears. He looked down at Vlad's finger and saw it glowing with ectoplasm.

Niel's face felt like it was being burned by acid. Why did his face feel like burning? He brought a shaky hand up to where Vlad touched him. Something was mushy and it felt _wrong_ and--when he pulled his hand away, it was coated in the same glowing substance as on Vlad's finger.

"Butter biscuits," Vlad muttered. "I shouldn't have let you stay in the Ghost Zone for so long. That much prolonged exposure to ectoplasm, and your body is still relatively young..."

Niel wasn't listening. He staggered and felt the world tilt beneath him. Everything was glowing, but it wasn't from his anger anymore. "I'm destabilizing," he said numbly.

Vlad fixed an intent gaze on him. "It's all right, I can fix you."

"I'm destabilizing," Niel repeated.

Vlad placed a hand on his shoulder. "Niel--"

For a second, the world turned red again, and Niel shouted "Stay away from me!" and stumbled back from Vlad's grip. His chest rose and fell with heavy breaths, except it barely did anything to assuage his nerves considering oxygen wasn't important to his ghost form. He brought his hands to his hairs and gripped at them. The ectoplasm on his hands was spread across his hair, but that didn't matter because he was _melting_.

"Calm down," Vlad ordered. "Being emotional only makes it worse."

Niel turned frightful eyes to Vlad. "How can I trust you? Ellie didn't let you fix her."

"Danielle is a fool! Come on, are you really going to let a small conflict between us stop you from accepting my help?" Vlad tried to grab him again, but Niel stepped away, causing his father to scowl. "Your form is falling apart. Who else can help you?"

Niel knew he should probably let Vlad fix him, but he couldn't think. Maybe his brain was melting, too. His chest continued to rise and fall futilely while more tears pricked his eyes. "The Fentons," he blurted. "The Fentons can help me."

"Are you an idiot? You'll be revealing all our secret identities if you go to those two for help!" Vlad's voice was steadily rising, but he forced himself to take a breath and calm himself. "Be logical, Niel. You know I love you, right?"

And that was how Niel became certain that Vlad hadn't been listening to a thing he said earlier. Suddenly, his potentially impending doom no longer mattered, and his fear was replaced once more by anger. Vlad's calm demeanor faltered when he saw Niel's eyes flash red again.

" _Fuck you_ ," Niel growled.

Vlad was so stunned that all he could say was, "Language."

Niel's fists shook, his teeth gritted, and then--a sob racked through him, breaking him down both figuratively and literally. The destabilization was spreading from his face to his chest and his arms and his legs and everywhere was glowing with his own ectoplasm. He cried, his tears mixing with the green substance and dripping to the floor.

He felt Vlad's fingers wrap around his wrist, but Niel phased his hand through. A thick sheet of goo was left behind on Vlad's hand, like when that slimer ghost from Ghostbuster phased through walls (it's amazing how your mind can still think of silly movie references even when your world is falling apart). "I'm not a perfect clone," Niel said.

"Don't say that. Of course you're--"

"I'm not," Niel said, "and I wish you didn't treat me that way."

He turned away from Vlad and lifted himself into the air. "Where are you going, Niel?" Vlad demanded. Niel ignored him. He shot upward and phased through the lab's ceiling. The last thing he heard was Vlad angrily yelling, " _Daniel!_ "

Niel bit back his sobs and flew out the mansion. He was oozing, bits of his own body falling beneath him and leaving a glowing trail.

 _Danny_ , Niel thought. Ellie was able to stay alive because Danny helped her. All he had to do was find the other boy and get him to stop...all of this.

And he had to get to him quickly, before the corruption could reach his head and leave him unable to think.


	10. Corruption

"I don't get it," Kwan said from his seat at the A-listers table. "That mayor's kid only showed up for half a week and then suddenly disappeared."

Paulina shrugged. "He was homeschooled, wasn't he? Maybe he has, like, social anxiety or something. I mean, he barely talked to anyone on those days he was here."

"Still, I wonder how he's doing," Star said. "Do you think he got in trouble for that rumor about Vlad and the Fentons?"

Dash snorted. "As if either of Fenton's parents would hook up with Masters. His kid's probably just crying at home for being such a loser."

While the A-listers talked among themselves, our trio of friends sat several tables over. Maybe it was ghost-powered enhanced senses, but Danny was able to hear their conversation over the bustle of the school cafeteria. He looked down at his tray, but he didn't feel very hungry at the moment.

Sam paused from her salad to look at him. "Still worried?"

Danny bit his lip. "It's just, I haven't seen or heard from Niel ever since..."

He didn't need to continue. He had told his friends about what happened, and they knew what he was referring to.

"Dang," Tucker said. "I mean, we all knew that Vlad sucked, but it's sad that Niel had to find out that way." He looked at Sam and asked, "You haven't heard from him, either?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. Not even a text."

"You guys text?"

"Used to, apparently."

Danny shifted in his seat. "Maybe I should check in on Vlad's mansion. Niel could be in trouble."

"I doubt it," Sam said. "Vlad wouldn't hurt Niel after being so public about his so-called "adoption" of him. It would ruin his image."

Danny had to admit, that did make sense. Still...he couldn't shake how terrified Niel had seemed when he dropped by his basement with a melting Danielle in tow. Niel had disappeared into the portal after that, and Danny hadn't seen him since.

He wanted to share these thoughts with his friends, but he was stopped when a sudden cold gripped at his spine before escaping through his mouth in a puff of blue mist. The mist wasn't as easily visible to humans as it was to ghosts and half-ghosts, but Sam and Tucker had grown to recognize the stiffness in Danny's back that always accompanied his ghost sense.

"Go," Sam told him. "We'll think of a way to cover for you if you take long."

Danny nodded. He cast a quick glance over the cafeteria. As usual, nobody paid any attention to the three losers, and the ghost he sensed didn't appear to be in this room. Danny left his seat and sprinted outside.

Once in the hallway, he let his ghost sense puff out again and watched as it wisped down the hallway and around a corner. He'd gotten good at controlling his ghost sense into letting him know where the ghost was with more precision. He followed the blue mist until he stopped when the tingling in his spine grew alarming. The ghost was nearby.

He turned his head around. The hallway was empty, but the entrance to the biology lab stood next to him. Cautiously, he opened the door an inch and peeked inside, then threw it wide open when he saw the figure slumped on the floor against one wall.

"Dani?" he said, because that was whom his mind first went to when he saw the pool of ectoplasm growing from the ghost. But after a closer look, he determined that whoever it was definitely wasn't Danielle.

Then the ghost raised its molten face, and Danny inhaled sharply and said, " _Niel_?"

It was him, all right. The clone he had been worrying over just a few seconds ago...and seeing how he looked, Danny had a feeling that his worrying was justified.

Danny landed on his knees next to the boy and asked, "What happened?"

Niel looked terrible, both because of the whole melting thing and because he was crying. He was sniffling and blinking teary eyes as he said, "I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to trust Vlad."

"Vlad..." Danny cursed and said, "You were supposed to be his prime clone. If he saw you destabilizing and knew you were imperfect--"

Niel shook his head. "He promised he can fix me."

"What? Then why didn't you let him?"

"I--" His eyes released more tears and one of his hands turned completely into goo as he said, "I don't know."

Danny wanted to know what happened, but he figured now was not the time for questions. "It's fine. The Ecto-Dejecto worked for Dani, so it'll probably work for you, too." He hesitated and asked, "Can you stand?"

Niel tried to push himself up. His limbs wobbled before he slipped on his own ectoplasm and dropped back down. So that was a _no_. Danny wrapped his arm under Niel's arms, ignoring how slippery he was, and hoisted him up.

Danny knew class was about to start soon, but it seemed that he would be skipping...again. That sucked, considering how many credits he had to make up for, but Niel's problem was much more important at the moment. He was just about to go ghost and carry them both home when the whine of an ecto-gun suddenly grabbed his attention.

He turned to the door and widened his eyes before hurriedly pushing Niel behind him and greeting, "Val!"

Valerie stood in the doorway, ecto-gun in hand. She raised an eyebrow. It was pretty obvious that she could still see Niel despite Danny's weak effort to hide him. "Why are you helping a ghost?" she asked.

"Ghost? What ghost?" Danny said with a nervous chuckle. He sent Niel a glare, silently telling him, _Why aren't you turning invisible?!_

Too late, Valerie had already seen him. "Danny..."

Danny sighed. He raised one hand in a placating gesture and said, "Look, he's not harming anyone. He's hurt."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Valerie replied with narrowed eyes. "His ecto-level reading is off the charts."

Was it? That seemed strange, considering how weak Niel appeared, but he supposed it would make sense for him to have inherited Phantom's overpoweredness.

"Anyway, aren't you supposed to be super terrified of ghosts or something?" Valerie pointed out, looking at Danny weirdly. "Or do you always run away from ghost encounters just because?

"Oh, um..." He chuckled again and rubbed his neck, trying furiously to think of a valid excuse. "Uh..." He pointed accusingly at her and shouted, "You're a ghost hunter!"

Valerie's eyes widened before she hid her gun behind her back and said with a nervous smile, "Of course not! I'm just carrying around a gun for safety. You know how often this school gets attacked by ghosts."

"Uh huh. If it was for self-defense, then why did you seek the ghost out instead of letting Phantom take care of him?"

"Phantom is a ghost, too. I don't trust him."

"So you _are_ a ghost hunter!"

"And _you're_ not terrified of ghosts!"

Both of them looked sheepish as they realized they had no way of backing themselves up.

They might have stood there awkwardly forever if Valerie's eyes hadn't drifted to the wall behind Danny. She cursed and exclaimed, "Great! The ghost got away!"

Danny turned around and found that Niel was gone. Additionally, there was a vaguely Niel-shaped coating of ectoplasm on the wall where he may have phased through. Danny was relieved that Niel got away from Valerie, but he really hoped he was okay.

Valerie walked until she stood in front of the wall, unobstructed by Danny's view. While she wasn't looking at him, Danny took this opportunity to run out the lab. Valerie's head whipped around as she heard him sprint.

She called out his name, but Danny was already down the hallway. He hid in the nearest broom closet he could find and transformed. Invisible, Phantom flew out the school and began searching for Niel.

Turns out that wasn't very hard. All he had to do was follow the trail of ectoplasm that led down the street. Danny's gut twisted. He really, really hoped Niel was okay.

Danny followed the trail until he stopped in front of the Nasty Burger a couple of blocks away. Niel was hiding behind a shrub in the parking lot. Danny was so relieved when he saw him that he let out a deep breath.

Niel flinched in surprise and started looking around frantically before Danny dropped his invisibility with a chuckle. "It's okay, it's just me! Jeez, I know you had to get away from Val, but you didn't have to travel this far."

Niel didn't reply. He averted his gaze from Danny and curled up, bringing his knees to his chest. Even though it was just Danny, his eyes still had that haunted look to them, and he was shivering--which didn't do much good for his melting.

Danny knew he needed to calm Niel down before he stressed himself into a puddle of goo. He gently landed next to the clone and said, "Wanna talk?"

Danny almost expected him to keep quiet, but Niel answered, "What is there to talk about other than the fact that my life utterly sucks?"

Okay, so Niel was going through some problems. He could see that. He cracked a smile and said, "Hey, join the club. My life--or half-life, at least--sucks, too."

He meant that as a joke to lift the mood, but he realized too late that it probably wasn't what Niel needed to hear. The other boy glared at him and said, "Your life sucks? You have a family who loves you, best friends, Sam probably likes you--"

"What?"

"--and you don't have a homicidal maniac for a dad!"

After that angry response, Niel buried his face into his arms and continued to sob. Okay. So Danny probably needed to approach this with gentle sympathy, and not stupid jokes.

"I mean...have you _met_ my dad?" _Dammit Danny why do you have to suck at comforting people._ He really wished Jazz were here instead. She was at college, although it was Friday, so she'd probably be visiting home that day. If only she were here sooner.

Niel lifted his head long enough to glare at him, and Danny sighed and admitted, "No, you're right. Your dad is much worse than my parents." He frowned as a realization dawned on him, and he said, "Wait, I thought you hated my parents."

Whatever he said, it wasn't the right thing. Niel clenched his jaw and balled his hands (or hand and a half, considering one of them was little more than a blob of ectoplasm at this point) into fists. "I don't know! I don't..."

"Hey, dude, it's cool," Danny said quickly. He tried to rub Niel's back for comfort--that was what Jazz always did to him whenever he had a mental breakdown--but when he touched his body, he instantly recoiled as a shock went through his fingers. A static shock? Wait, but Niel was in ghost form. That didn't make sense.

Niel brushed him off and messily stood up, fist(s) by his sides. "I'm just...so sick of everything! I was supposed to be made to replace you, you know, but I get nothing from your perfect life."

Danny froze and let out a nervous chuckle. "You don't, like...actually care about replacing me, though. Right?" He stood beside him and added, "By the way, I wasn't kidding when I said my life sucked. Sure, your life may seem terrible right now, but nobody's life is perfect..."

"Shut up!" Niel shouted and thrust a hand in Danny's direction. Danny had just enough time to duck and dodge Niel's ecto-beam--wait, no, that wasn't an ecto-beam. That was...a bolt of lightning? The lightning hit the restaurant building behind Danny, and he heard several things crack and people scream. He turned around and saw that the windows had burst. Smoke was billowing out, and Danny was pretty sure that wasn't from the cooking.

Danny turned back to stare at Niel, but the boy didn't seem shocked or guilty from what he'd done. He didn't seem anything at all, actually. His eyes were distant, unseeing. His chest still heaved, which did nothing to stop his gradual liquefaction.

Oh god oh frick. Danny wanted to slap Niel in the face multiple times, but he had to save those inside the restaurant. He zoomed toward the building and peeked in through the broken glass.

Thankfully, due to the time of day--when most people were at school or working--there weren't many people inside. Those who were there were rushing out the door. They reached the outdoor safely without his help, and Danny was just about to accept that he wasn't needed when a flame grew with a roar in front of him. He stumbled back and landed on his butt before picking himself up again.

Now that he noticed it, all the lights inside the building had burst and were sending sparks across the room, many of which caught on wooden furniture and gave birth to fire. The sprinkler system must have still been broken from the last ghost fight, though he didn't know if that would have helped anyway.

The smoke blowing at him was suffocating. He covered his mouth and nose with a gloved hand and backed away. He was in ghost form; he knew he didn't need to breathe. A small part of his brain that spoke in Jazz's voice told him his suffocation was purely psychological, but that didn't make him any less reluctant to breathe the fire in.

His eyes stung. He blinked furiously as the sight before him sunk in. He was at the Nasty Burger. The Nasty Burger was on fire. He was at the Nasty Burger, and the Nasty Burger was on fire. A numb paralysis spread through his body and squeezed his chest and he still couldn't breathe. He was at the Nasty Burger, the Nasty Burger was on fire, his friends and family were dead and his older self was laughing menacingly, eyes flaring red and fangs glinting in the fire--

No. No! Danny had to physically shake his head to shove that memory away. Dan wasn't here! His alternate future self was trapped safely inside a thermos in Clockwork's lair. His friends and family were alive. The Nasty Burger still hadn't blown up. Clockwork erased that timeline!

Or did he?

Danny focused his eyes and saw Niel still standing in the same spot, still staring at the fire dazedly. His eyes were flaring red, his mouth was open slightly to reveal his fangs. His skin was blue and his cape billowed and his hair seemed to wisp at the edges like it was made of fire.

Danny told himself that Niel wasn't Dan. But how could he be sure he won't turn into him? Niel was already jealous of Danny's life; how could he be sure that the clone won't take his place then proceed to do the same decisions Danny had done in that dark timeline? How could he know that Niel won't become corrupted?

"Not him," Danny found himself mumbling. "Please. Not him."

Niel must have heard him, because he turned his head slightly toward him with a frown, like he was just beginning to wake. Another roar came from the building as the fire ate through the walls, and Niel blinked and suddenly jolted awake from his stupor. His eyes finally focused on the image before him, and they widened. Had _he_ done that? he seemed to wonder.

"Ice," he said, then turned to Danny seriously and shouted, "Use your ice!"

Danny didn't hear him. He was having his own little breakdown when Niel placed a goopy hand on his shoulder and brought him back to the real world. Danny flinched and shoved Niel away. Niel looked hurt, but Danny didn't care. Away, he wanted to stay away from that, that ghost--

Wait. What had he said? Ice? Danny wanted to slap himself and laugh at the same time. Of course, he had ice powers now! He didn't have them when he first faced off against Dan, but he did have them now. He could put out the fire before the whole place exploded.

Oh shoot the place could explode. Danny rushed inside, through the thick smoke and fire. He summoned his ice powers to the surface and began to freeze everything in sight. He may or may not have used a little more ice than necessary, but his goal was reached; the fires were put out. Just to be extra sure, he made certain that the vat of Nasty Sauce was cool, along with any heater or chemical that could have exploded in heat, before he finally allowed himself to slump in relief and floated back outside.

As soon as he made it out, he was tackled by Niel's melting form, whose ectoplasm was splattered all over Danny as he hugged him. Danny's first instinct was to go absolutely still, but then Niel sobbed and said, "I'm sorry! I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't mean to!"

Once Danny got over his shock, he brought his hand to Niel's back. Rubbing it didn't yield great results, considering how goopy and sticky Niel's body was, so Danny just patted him gently and said, "It's okay. No one got hurt."

Niel sniffled and pulled away. Seeing him, Danny was filled with immense guilt. How could he possibly have even considered that Niel could be Dan? Dan would never feel bad about what he had done. There was no way Niel could become corrupted enough into becoming a genocidal murderer. He was too sad, and too small.

Also, he was currently turning into a puddle. Danny probably ought to do something about that. "Hey, come on. We still need to get to my parents' lab to fix you up," Danny told him.

Niel nodded wordlessly. He let Danny do his best to hold him in his dissolving form, and the half-ghost carried them both to Fentonworks, the frozen-over restaurant shrinking behind them as they left.


	11. Doctor

Danny and Niel landed in the empty lab. Thankfully, his parents weren't at home, which meant they had the place for themselves--which was good, because Danny really needed to get Niel to stop melting. He placed Niel on an uncluttered examination table. As he removed his hands from him, he tried not to feel disgusted as a mucky coating of Niel's ectoplasm was left on his palms.

"Do I look bad?" Niel asked.

Danny gave the clone a once-over. His face looked like wet clay, and several parts of his body had become green-tinted and gooey.

"Nah," Danny said. "I've seen Danielle look way worse."

"Danielle turned into a puddle of goo."

"Exactly! You're not that bad."

Niel didn't seem reassured. He tried to look at his reflection on the metallic table, but Danny pulled his chin away and said, "Really, it's fine. Dani was fixed, and so will you be."

Niel frowned. His red eyes bore into Danny, and Danny instinctively looked away.

"If I don't look bad, then why won't you look at me?" Niel said.

Danny bit his lip. He didn't want to admit that Niel's red eyes, blue skin, and fangs reminded him too much of his evil alternate self. He sighed, and tried to rub his neck but stopped when he remembered that Niel's goo was all over his hand. Yuck.

A quick glance showed that Niel was watching him expectantly. Danny fidgeted before saying, "Could you...turn into your human half, please?"

Admittedly, that probably wasn't the smartest choice. It was easier to stabilize him while he was in his ghost form. But Danny couldn't stand looking at Niel for too long when he looked like...you know.

Niel pressed his lips, but he didn't argue. A flash of light later, Niel was in his human form--pale skin, deep blue eyes, and partially-shaven dark hair with a few light streaks running through. He was still melting, though, and the ectoplasm oozing from him looked much creepier when it was coming from a human. Still, at least he had no red eyes or fangs. Danny tried not to show how much more at ease that made him feel.

"You said you'll fix me?" Niel prompted.

"Right," Danny said with a nod, shaking away his thoughts. He floated to a shelf and found the syringe he was looking for. "I've still got the Ecto-Dejecto I used on Danielle last time, so it should work."

He returned to Niel's side with the Ecto-Dejecto in hand. He sprayed the substance onto Niel's body and stood back to watch it work. For a second, nothing seemed off. His skin stopped melting and stretched back to its regular form.

Then things went wrong. His skin began to bubble. The ectoplasm swelled out in twice the magnitude.

Danny gulped. He placed a hand under his chin and frowned, trying not to appear too distressed. "Hmm."

" _Hmm_?" Niel said. "What do you mean by _hmm_?"

Danny shrugged sheepishly and said, "Okay, _now_ you look bad."

"What?!" Niel stared at his reflection on the table's surface before Danny could stop him. He recoiled and pressed a hand against his swelling green face. "You said you can fix me!"

"I thought I can! It worked for Dani..."

"Ellie--" Niel cursed and said, "Ellie's makeup is different from mine! Vlad made sure of that when he made me!"

"Then why didn't you say that _before_ I injected you with a ghost-strengthening chemical?!"

"Excuse me, I was too busy having an emotional breakdown!"

Niel glared at him with wide eyes, but he didn't seem angry. His blue eyes looked terrified. Danny realized he felt pretty terrified, too.

"Okay, okay," Danny said, running a hand through his hair (and forgetting about Niel's ectoplasm that coated it until it was too late). "This is fine. There has to be _something_ in this lab that can undo this." He looked around frantically and began to search the lab for, well, anything that could help.

Niel whined. Danny looked back at him then immediately looked away because, yeah, Niel did look gross. Green goo was swelling out of his body, making him look like some radioactive horror-movie monster.

"This is horrible," Niel said. "I look horrible. I should have stayed with Vlad."

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" Danny said, trying to keep the anxiety out of his voice. "I'm not a doctor for half-ghosts! I can't exactly take you to a regular hospital, and the only experts on ghost biology are Vlad and my parents!"

Niel blinked. "Your parents. Maybe they can help me."

Danny was so surprised by his statement that he turned to stare at him despite how gross he looked. That was the second time that day that Niel had mentioned Danny's parents without any contempt. If he didn't know any better, he'd even say that Niel didn't hate Jack and Maddie anymore.

"My parents are ghost hunters," Danny reminded.

Niel frowned. "I know that. But maybe if we just explained..."

"That you're a half-ghost clone Vlad Masters made of me?"

Niel hesitated, no doubt realizing how stupid that sounded.

Danny turned back to his search of the lab. There had to be something he can do...but what? He looked down and saw his hands shaking. As annoying as Niel was, Danny didn't want him to destabilize because of his fault. He wouldn't be able to handle that if it happened. Yet he felt his hope drop lower the longer he spent searching and finding nothing but weapons and ghost detectors.

He froze when his ears picked up on the sound of the front door unlocking upstairs. It swung open, and two pairs of footsteps entered. Had his parents already come back?

"Quick, hide," Danny hissed at Niel. Niel did not hide. The clone bit his lip and met Danny's eyes, a pleading look in them. Danny faltered. "You don't actually mean to let my parents help you, do you?"

"They're better ghost doctors than you are."

"They're ghost _hunters_ \--!"

"Danny, sweetie?" his mother's voice came. "Are you down there?"

Danny mentally cursed and quickly placed himself in front of Niel. Sadly, he knew that did nothing to hide the mess of ectoplasm behind him, but at least he tried. His mind was trying furiously to think of a way to save Niel when Maddie entered the lab.

As soon as she caught a glimpse of Niel's glowing ectoplasm, the ghost hunter wasted no time in drawing her ecto-gun and barking, "Danny, what's that _thing_ behind you?"

Danny tried not to get nervous over the fact that his mom was aiming a gun in his direction. He was trying to think of something to say to placate her when Niel croaked, "Mrs. Fenton."

She nearly dropped her gun, but her fingers managed to curl around the handle before it could fall to the ground. Her jaw gaped, and Danny looked over his shoulder to see that Niel had leaned out from behind him, in full view of Maddie.

Danny wondered if Niel had lost it, but it was too late to do anything now. Maddie had seen Niel. She moved around Danny to get a better view of the boy, and once she determined that _yes_ , that was Niel underneath all that swelling ectoplasm, she lowered her weapon and said incredulously, " _Niel_? What happened to you? I swear, if a ghost scum did this--"

"No one did this," Niel assured. He sighed and said with downcast eyes, "It was...my fault. I messed around in Vlad's lab and got into an accident. It made me half ghost."

Maddie frowned. "Half ghost? That's impossible."

"Mom," Danny said. He didn't actually have anything to say, but he didn't want her to shoot Niel.

Maddie's attention turned to Danny, and Danny tried to think of something to tell her when his dad's voice exclaimed, "Holy ghosts! Is that Niel?"

Maddie turned to the lab's entrance to look at Jack. "He says messing around with Vlad's lab equipment did this to him."

"It's not just that," Niel added. "Dad examined me. He said being part ghost is keeping me from dying, so he can't just remove that half from me. But then _this_ started happening, and I didn't want to worry my dad, so...I thought maybe you can help me."

Danny had to admit, he was impressed by how flawless Niel's cover story sounded. Then he remembered that Niel did have some of Vlad's DNA in him, and Vlad was a pretty charismatic speaker. That made sense, because Danny was pretty sure he never would have been able to lie on his own with just his DNA.

Maddie holstered her gun and stepped toward Niel. She brought her hand to his face, and Niel tried not to flinch as she touched him then pulled away. A long string of ectoplasm coated her glove, but she didn't look disgusted, probably because she could always replace her gloves with another pair.

"Of course this happened," she muttered. "Humans and ectoplasm aren't supposed to be fused this way."

Niel looked nervous. "But you can fix this, right? Without unfusing my human and ghost halves?"

Maddie crossed her arms and looked Niel up and down. "It won't be easy," she said, "but I can try."

Danny blinked. "You mean you won't hurt him?"

Maddie widened her eyes at him. "Of course not! Why would we?"

"Yeah!" Jack agreed, joining the small crowd around the exam table. "Niel is Vladdie's son, and we would never hurt him, human or ghost."

Niel slumped in relief. He smiled at Danny as if to say, _I told you so._

"That's...great," Danny said, still unable to believe it.

Jack placed a hand on Danny's shoulder and gently steered him to the lab's exit. "You better go upstairs, son. This operation is gonna take a while."

"But you'll keep Niel safe, right? And you'll help him?"

Jack smiled. "How sweet of you to care for your friend! Don't worry. Your mother and I are well-versed in ectobiology, and we'll do our best to fix him."

Danny wished his nerves were assuaged, but he knew how excitable his parents often were. Standing in the kitchen, in front of the basement's entrance, he watched as Jack closed the door behind him on his way back downstairs. Niel trusted the couple. Danny hoped his decision was right.

The telephone in the kitchen rang. Danny picked it up and said, "Hello?"

"Hey, little brother," Jazz greeted through the phone.

Even though they couldn't see each other, Danny smiled. Ever since Jazz had started going to college, he missed having her around--not that he'd admit that to her. "Jazz, hey! Are you still coming home for the weekend?"

"Yep! Just calling to let you know. How are things, by the way?"

Danny glanced toward the lab. How are things? Oh, boy, where to begin?

"That hesitation doesn't sound very comforting," Jazz said.

"I'm fine," Danny told her. "Really. It's just...Niel."

"Niel? Did something happen to him?"

"Okay, you know how Danielle sometimes come over for Ecto-Dejecto because she gets all melty?"

"You mean Niel melted? But he's supposed to be Vlad's perfect clone!"

"Apparently, he's not as perfect as he thought."

"But you fixed him, right?"

"Yeah, uh...the Dejecto didn't really work on him. But he's okay! Mom and Dad are trying to help him."

" _Mom and Dad_?"

Danny sighed, still looking at the door leading to the underground laboratory. "Don't worry, he didn't reveal my secret or tell them he's a clone. And...I think they really do want to help. Niel trusts them, amazingly enough."

There was a short moment of silence on from Jazz's side, and then she said, "Danny."

"Yeah?"

"Mom and Dad are trying to heal Niel. They're going to look at his DNA."

Danny's slow mind was trying to figure out what she meant by that when she said, "They're going to know he's your clone."

Danny's eyes widened. His stomach sank, and he cursed. "And if his ghost signature is similar to Phantom's--"

"You're going to need a lot of explaining to do."

The hand holding the phone fell to his side. What should he do? There was no way he could come out of this with his secret intact _and_ without putting Niel in danger. Jazz's mumbled voice was coming through the phone, but he didn't bother listening. He had to do something.

Before he could ponder on his actions, he burst through the door and emerged in the basement lab. The three people already there turned their heads to look at him. Niel was still on the table, the same green mess as he'd left him, and Maddie and Jack were by a microscope, observing what he guessed was Niel's ectoplasm. Sooner or later they were going to find out.

"Danny? What's wrong?" Maddie said worriedly. Danny was panting and sweaty from the adrenaline coursing through him. He had to do something.

"I'm--" He licked his lips, took a deep breath, and said, "I'm Phantom."


	12. Gloves

Maddie made her way to the half-ghost sitting on the table in their lab. Niel's skin was swollen green with ectoplasm all over. It made her think of a mumps patient, if mumps were green, glowing, and gooey.

She held up the syringe in her hand, which held the substance she'd just concocted. She had checked and double checked her calculations, so it should work. If only she had time to test it on a subject besides the one she was saving, but she doubted there was enough time. Who knew how much worse Niel could become if left untreated.

Niel eyed the syringe nervously. "Do you think it'll work?"

"Do you think you could look any worse?"

Niel grimaced and held out his arm passively. Maddie smiled at him before she injected the syringe into his outstretched arm.

She held her breath as she waited for it to work. Soon enough, the lumps in his body began to dissolve. Niel gasped with alarm as they turned liquid, but Maddie placed a hand on his arm to calm him down. Niel gulped. The liquid remained for a moment before it began to solidify. This time, his body reformed in its right shape. He looked normal again.

Niel cautiously raised a hand to pat at his face, and he was overjoyed when he found it smooth and solid. He grinned at Maddie and said, "It worked."

Maddie smiled. "Danny used the Ecto-Dejecto on you, didn't he?"

Niel nodded, still patting his body to make sure he was solid. Maddie explained, "That was the problem. Ecto-Dejecto strengthens ectoplasm, but your body is only half ectoplasmic. All we had to do was destabilize the excess ectoplasm."

Niel looked up at her, and Maddie had to bite her tongue as she was once again hit by how similar he looked to her baby boy. She once thought Danny had another look-alike--Phantom. Then, just a few hours ago, her son dropped the bomb that he was in fact both people. She had thought he was going crazy until he transformed right before their eyes.

Maddie was trying not to get lost in her thoughts as Niel said, "Thank y..." His _thank you_ was interrupted by a yawn, and he covered his mouth and blinked lazily. "Why do I feel tired?"

Maddie gave him another small smile and said, "Your body fell apart, swelled over, then melted again before you returned to normal. No doubt, all that action must have drained your energy pretty badly. You just need a good nap."

"A nap," Niel agreed sleepily. "That sounds nice." He lay down on the table, and before Maddie could offer to let him rest somewhere more comfortable, he was already snoring.

As soon as Niel was out, Maddie's shoulders slumped. She looked down at her hands and saw that her gloves were covered with ectoplasm--which wasn't a new sight. This time, no ghost was harmed. But what about all those other times she tainted her gloves green? How many ghosts had she destroyed in the name of research?

She tore off her gloves and threw them in the waste bin--she could always replace them later. She went to the bathroom in the basement and turned on the sink, thrusting her hands under the running water. She scrubbed. And scrubbed.

"I think your hands are clean enough," Jack said, his bulking form filling up the restroom's doorway. "I just counted four happy birthdays."

Maddie turned off the sink and sighed. "Sorry, it's just..."

Jack stepped inside with her. She looked down and saw that he, too, had taken off his gloves. The skin on his hands was pale from how little light it received.

"It's Danny, isn't it?" Jack said, making Maddie wince. He exhaled and added, "I can't believe we spent that long without suspecting anything. It makes so much sense in retrospect. All those inventions that went off around him..." He shook his head and chuckled.

Maddie didn't laugh. "Two years. Two years and we never knew. Oh, Jack, all those times we tried to hunt him..."

Jack was uncharacteristically somber. He slipped his hand into hers, and her skin tingled without the protection of her gloves. "We'll make it up to him," Jack said. It didn't slip Maddie's notice how he didn't try to justify what they'd done, only suggest that they make up for their wrongdoing.

Maddie still couldn't believe that ghost she cursed so many times was really her son. His revelation was sudden. Maddie had been about to analyze Niel's ectoplasm when Danny came up to them, and the words spilled from his mouth without pause. He was Phantom. It happened because of the portal accident. He spent two years hunting ghosts behind their back. Then he transformed, and Maddie nearly collapsed in shock, after which Danny almost sheepishly told them that he would explain everything once they were done healing Niel.

Maddie had no idea why he had chosen that moment exactly to reveal his secret, but after analyzing Niel, she wondered if there was a reason after all. She gazed out the bathroom to where the boy was sleeping on the table. He slept on his side, curled up like a cat...just like how Danny often slept.

"Did you notice something strange when we looked at Niel's DNA?" she said to Jack.

Danny had given them a sample of his blood in the hope that it could help them stabilize Niel. She almost mixed his sample up with Niel's because of how identical they were under the microscope. Nagging curiosity caused her to compare Niel's genetic sequence with Danny's, and the results were impossible to deny.

"It almost exactly matched up with Danny's," Jack answered.

"And not just his human DNA," Maddie added. "His ecto-signature was close to Phantom's."

"So...what are you saying? You didn't give birth to a twin without telling me, did you?"

"No. I think I would remember having a third child." Her eyes bore into Niel's resting form as she voiced her suspicion, "I think he might have been birthed artificially...as a clone."

"A clone?" Jack's eyebrows rose to his hairline as he said, "Why would Vladdie keep a clone? And aren't clone genes supposed to match up 100%? Maybe they just look alike."

Maddie shook her head. "I'm not sure about the dissimilarities...but a 95% match? That much genetic closeness is extremely rare for someone who isn't related. And besides..." She swallowed back a lump and added, "We used to think of Phantom as a look-alike."

The couple was silent as that statement hung over them. Finally, Jack spoke, "But...V-man? Why would he clone Danny?"

Maddie found herself thinking about all those not-so-secret glares Danny and Vlad always sent each other, and how the words they exchanged were always laced with an undertone of scorn. She had always assumed that Danny was simply being protective of her against Vlad's creepy advances, but there had always been something else...a secret that only the two of them knew. Her eyes widened, and she said, "Vlad knows about Danny."

"You mean that Danny is Phantom? But then why didn't he tell us?"

Her mind worked in full gear, piecing together shards to form a big picture. "He's a scientist, just like us," she said. "He...maybe he wanted to..." She gulped.

As much as she loathed to admit it, when she first learned about Danny's half-ghost status, a deep, dark part of her wanted to study him. She wanted to cut him up to see how he ticked, how a person can be human and ghost at the same time, how the ectoplasm and flesh could possibly interact. Of course, she would never, ever act out on that desire. Danny was her son. She would never hurt him...but Vlad didn't have that same connection.

"Maybe Vlad created Niel as an experiment," she said, "to study Danny's powers." Because she knew he couldn't do permanent harm to Danny, not when she and Jack might notice...but a clone? Niel was a copy of Danny. Doing something to _him_ would not affect the Fentons.

Niel had lied to them by saying his destabilization was caused by playing around in Vlad's lab. But what if it was really Vlad's doing? Why would Niel come to them for help if Vlad hadn't done something to make the boy distrust him?

"Vladdie wouldn't do that," Jack said, but his voice was filled with uncertainty. Maddie softened. She knew that Jack still thought of Vlad as his best friend from their college days. He had no idea how much the man had changed.

Maddie shrugged and admitted, "Maybe I'm missing something. But Niel is a clone, and I'm sure of it. A look-alike of Danny who also has the same ghost powers and a similar ecto-signature...that can't be a coincidence."

Jack pressed his lips. He traced her vision toward Niel, and Maddie knew he agreed--there was just no denying the fact that Niel was the spitting image of their son.

Maddie left the tiny bathroom and walked toward the table with the possible-clone sleeping on it. Seeing him closer only confirmed his likeness to Danny. His brows were drawn together in a frown, and Maddie wondered if he was having a nightmare. The bangs in front of his face swayed with every breath he unconsciously blew.

She moved the hair away from his face and gently touched his face. Now that he was fixed, there was no longer any goo that clung to her hand. His skin was cold...although she couldn't tell whether that was normal for half-ghosts. She should know, having lived under the same roof as Danny, but she realized she always wore her gloves even at home. She rarely ever touched her children with her bare hands. What kind of mother doesn't know how the touch of her own children feels?

"Oh, you're done," a voice said, and Maddie whipped around to see her son standing at the lab's entrance. He seemed relieved to see Niel back to normal, although his expression turned to nervousness when he caught Maddie's eyes.

"Danny," she said. He was in his human form, with black hair and blue eyes...but now that she knew the truth, she couldn't help but notice Phantom's outline in him. It really was ridiculous how she never thought about them as the same person despite seeing them both up close.

She felt herself fill up with dread. Danny had promised to explain everything once they were done, which they now were. Maybe he would even confirm or deny whether Niel really was his clone.

But as she studied him, she saw him shift from one foot to another nervously and cast frequent glances to Niel. Maybe he was as hesitant to delve into his backstory as she was to listen, but Maddie sensed he had something else more urgent to say. Sure enough, he announced, "Vlad's here."

Maddie immediately turned her attention to Niel. She had no doubt that Vlad was here to pick him up. How he knew that Niel was here exactly, she wasn't sure...then again, he did (possibly) create him. Maybe he had a way of tracking him down. Or maybe he guessed they were the only ones who could help him.

She and Jack exchanged a look. Normally, Jack was terrible on picking up on unspoken cues, but after being married for two decades, one learns to read their partner's mind. A silent agreement passed between them: they would not mention their suspicions regarding Niel to Vlad.

She went up the stairs, Jack behind her. Danny stayed in the lab. He stood by Niel's side, maybe to guard him. There was a defensive glint in his eyes and in his posture that made her wonder if that was how she looked like whenever she felt protective over Danny and Jazz. It was weird to think that, if Niel really was his clone, then he would technically be Danny's son.

Okay, that was a weird thought. Maybe sibling was a more accurate descriptor. Teenage parents are one thing, but when the son is almost the same age as the parent--

She banished those thoughts when they emerged in the kitchen. Jazz was there. The sink held fresh silverware, which made her think that Jazz and Danny must have had a meal while she and Jack were in the lab fixing Niel. Maddie felt guilty. She should have been there to greet her daughter when she arrived.

Maddie gave her a small smile. Jazz briefly returned it, but rather than waste time with greetings, she jumped to the more urgent matter and said, "He's in the living room."

Maddie's smile fell as she left the kitchen. Sure enough, there stood Vlad Masters in all his glory. "Maddie," he greeted fondly. Then his eyes moved to the person behind her, and he said a little less fondly, "Jack."

"V-man! How are ya, pal? What brings you to our home?" Jack said cheerily. The grin plastered on his face was so convincing that you never would have suspected that his entire worldview was shattered just a few hours ago.

Vlad pretended to look sad as he cast his eyes down and said sulkily, "It's my son. He's..." He even went as far as swallowing down a fake sob as he said, "He's run away. I was hoping you might know where he went."

Maddie wanted to scoff at his poor display of fatherly concern. If he really cared about Niel, he would have been more worried than that. She hid her contempt behind a look of surprise and said, "Why would he run away from you?"

Vlad shrugged and said, "Who knows? Teenagers, always so rebellious. I'm sure you would know."

Maddie held back a wince. For the longest time, that was what she had believed: that Danny was rebelling. His failed grades, skipping school, staying up late in who-knows-where doing who-knows-what....She had feared her son was a deliquent, until she only recently learned that the "what" he was doing was actually hunting ghosts as the city's ghostly protector. She wondered if Vlad knew that and was subtly gibing her.

Maddie forced herself to stay calm. Thankfully, she was saved from replying by Jack. Her husband said, "It's true, kids are hard to look after. Maybe someday we should get together so I can give you some parental advice, keep an eye on Niel to make sure he's treated right."

Maddie wanted to kiss Jack. Just like her, he was worried for Niel, but unlike her, he knew how to come up with a way of looking after him without sounding suspicious. He was certainly smarter than people gave him credit for. Maddie's idea was just to forcibly adopt the clone from Vlad.

Vlad's face twitched as he said, "I'll consider it." Then, he perked up and gazed into the kitchen. "What was that?"

Maddie frowned. She didn't hear anything. Jack didn't either, because he said, "What was what?"

Vlad composed himself. "Say, you don't mind if I look in your lab, do you? Perhaps your son hid my son down there. They are friends, after all."

Maddie raised an eyebrow. "Why not check Danny's room, then?"

"Oh, I have a feeling he might be in the lab. I just want to take a quick look."

"We were just in the lab. No one was there," she lied.

"He could be hidden somewhere you didn't check. Just let me go down there for one minute."

Maddie hesitated. She wanted to refuse, but she had a feeling Vlad won't take no for an answer. She straightened herself and said, "No need. I'll go and take a look for you."

"Really, it's no problem. I'll just--"

"I'll go," Maddie repeated, and her tone was final. She slapped on a smile and added, "After all, you're our guest. You deserve to relax and feel welcomed. Jack, why don't you chat with Vlad while I'm gone?"

Vlad looked miffed. No doubt he was wishing Maddie was the one staying with him instead of Jack. Tough luck.

She returned to the lab with the intent to wake Niel up, but when she arrived, she saw that he was already awake. He and Danny were in a whispered argument that broke off when they noticed her enter. Maddie wondered what they were talking about, but she didn't ask.

"Vlad wants to take you home," she told Niel.

Niel and Danny exchanged a glance. Then Niel stood up and faced Maddie. "Okay. I'll go."

"You sure?" Danny asked.

Niel nodded reluctantly. "He's my dad."

"That's a fancy way of saying creator," Maddie commented. When Niel stiffened, she said, "I know you're a clone, Niel."

Neither boy seemed particularly surprised by her discovery. Danny just watched her warily to see what she would say next, although Niel did look a bit panicky.

"It's--I mean--The infinite monkey problem--"

"Niel, it's okay," Maddie cut off. "I don't care that you're a clone of my son. But if Vlad hurt you in his experiments--"

"Experiments?" Niel questioned, eyebrows high.

"Yes," Maddie confirmed with a frown. "Did he not make you to study Danny?"

"No! He's--I'm his son," he insisted, glancing at Danny briefly before continuing, "He just made me because he's lonely."

"Lonely?" Maddie said with disbelief. Niel nodded. Maddie looked at Danny, but he had averted his eyes and was suddenly interested in the far wall.

If Vlad was lonely, he could have adopted a real orphan instead of making an entire clone from scratch. And why her son, of all people? She felt a surge of protectiveness burn in her chest. She knew she was missing something, but it was clear as day that Vlad was, for whatever reason, obsessed with Danny. She would have to keep a closer eye on their future interactions.

"Is he still waiting?" Niel asked, interrupting her from her thoughts. The clone looked tense.

Maddie nodded, then pointed out, "You sound reluctant."

Niel bit his lip. "It's not like I can stay away from him forever. He could always track me down, and you can't keep me away from an influential figure."

"You shouldn't live with him if you don't want to," Maddie insisted. "You could stay with us for at least a night. I'll tell Vlad you're staying over."

Niel looked like he was considering that, but he shook his head and said, "That's just delaying things. I can't run away from my problems forever."

There was a steel in his voice that was the same as...not Danny. _Phantom_. His eyes pierced into hers, dark and determined, and she pressed her lips and nodded.

"If you ever need to get away, just know you could come to us," she told him. "We're friends with Vlad, in a manner of speaking. I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

Niel's tough exterior faltered, and he allowed himself to smile. "Thank you."

"I'm impressed," Danny suddenly said. "I used to think you were an annoying little brat, but you've grown."

Maddie almost glared at her son, but Niel just laughed. "Thanks, I guess."

Danny smirked and lightly punched his arm, but his expression quickly fell back into worry. "But really. If you need someone, just call."

Niel nodded but didn't say anything. He looked out the lab's entrance nervously. Maddie stood by his side and held his hand.

It had been ages since she last held Danny's hands, and even longer since she'd held them without gloves on. She knew Niel wasn't the same person, but it made her feel nostalgic. She almost wanted to ask the real Danny to hold her other hand so she could feel fulfilled, but Danny was by Niel's other side, standing as protectively as ever.

They ascended the stairs to the kitchen. She expected to find Vlad bored out of his mind by Jack's rambling, but when they emerged in the living room, she was surprised to find the two men engaged in conversation. Then she heard the word "Packers" and thought, _Ah, that makes sense._

Vlad broke off their football-related talk when he spotted Niel. His face morphed into a grin, and he said with brimming relief, "Niel. There you are."

Niel was tense, but he kept his tone neutral as he greeted, "Dad."

Vlad stepped forward to embrace his son, but when Niel flinched, he apparently changed his mind and let his arms fall to his sides. He turned to Maddie with a sheepish smile and said, "I'm sorry you had to be pulled into our conflict."

"Not at all," Maddie replied. "I like to think of Niel as part of the family. He's free to visit whenever."

Niel looked at her with big eyes filled with gratefulness and a glint of hope. Vlad smiled stiffly and said, "Thank you for that." He looked at Niel and added, "If no one minds, I would like for us to take our leave. We have some...family matters to talk about that I would prefer to do in private."

Niel gulped but nodded. He walked up to his father, and Vlad kept his hand hovering over his back as they turned toward the exit.

Maddie took one step forward, and Vlad turned back to face her expectantly. Maddie paused for a second before she said to Niel, "Goodbye."

"Bye," Niel responded. "And...thanks."

Maddie smiled, and Niel slowly smiled back. Then Vlad steered them both out the front door.

Maddie looked out the window to see them get into a long black limousine. She kept watching until they drove away, the light from the sinking sun turning the car blood-red as it disappeared into the distance.

Danny plopped himself onto a couch. He fidgeted his hands and murmured, "Thanks for, you know...not freaking out about the whole clone thing."

"I did hold myself together pretty well, didn't I?" Maddie said, her smile a little too wide. "Although, now that you mention it. Why does Vlad have a clone of you?"

Danny rubbed his neck and swallowed hard. "I can't tell you."

"You said you would explain everything."

"I did. It's just...this involves someone else's secret that I can't exactly share."

Maddie noticed Jazz joining them from the kitchen and standing with her arms crossed. It suddenly hit her that Jazz must have known Danny's secret. For how long, she had no idea, but it did explain a lot.

"That's fine," Jack said, gazing at his son patiently. "You don't have to tell us about Niel if you can't. But...everything else..."

Danny squirmed in his seat. He looked at Jazz and seemed to relax slightly. He then looked at his parents and nodded.

"You might want to sit down. It's a long story."

_~~(Bonus:~~ _

_~~They sat on the couches around him, Jazz by his side. "It's okay," she said to her brother. "Just please don't tell them that stupid rap you made up."~~ _

_~~Maddie's eyebrow rose as Danny's lips stretched into a grin. Jazz groaned and buried her face in her hands while Danny began, "Yo Danny Fenton he was just 14 when his parents built a very strange machine--")~~ _


	13. Regret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short chapter but whatever

Shhhwt. Up. Shhhwt. Down.

Niel pressed and pulled on the window switch and watched the glass move up and down. He could tell it annoyed Vlad, but the car stayed quiet except for the sliding window.

Shhhwt.

"Would you stop that?" Vlad finally spoke.

Niel pressed the button again. Shhh-

Vlad's hand wrapped around his wrist and pulled it away. Niel turned around to stare into Vlad's aggravated eyes.

They were both in the back seats, of course. The limo was being driven by a chauffeur--who was, like most of Vlad's staff, a ghost. Apparently, employing ghosts rather than humans made it easier for Vlad not to worry about hiding his ghost half. How the Fentons never noticed the ghost workers was anyone's idea, but then again, they did go two years without knowing their own son was a ghost.

Vlad let go of Niel's wrist and sighed. "Look, I wanted to say I'm sorry."

"Sure," Niel mumbled indifferently.

"I mean it," Vlad pressed on. "I thought about it, and I realized I hadn't acted like the best parent."

"No, you didn't," Niel agreed, turning back to the window. "And you're just saying that so I don't run away again."

Vlad gripped his shoulder and turned him toward him again. "Then I'll prove it. I promise I'll listen to you more closely, and I promise I won't hurt the other clones again."

Niel felt his chest inflate with hope. "Really?"

"Well, I won't actively hunt them down, at least."

"Oh." He crossed his arms and turned away.

Vlad eyed him curiously. "I see you are solid again. I'm guessing Daniel helped you?"

He was calling Danny "Daniel" again. Maybe this was his way of saying he accepted Niel as his son's name. Or maybe he just got sick of calling Danny by a nickname.

"The Fentons did, actually," Niel said without much thought. When he glanced at Vlad, he saw his jaw drop in shock and anger.

"The Fentons? _Jack and Maddie_? You mean you _told_ them about yourself?!"

Niel sunk into his car seat guiltily. "I didn't tell them _your_ secret."

"No, but of course they're going to figure it out! Telling them you're half ghost will make them suspect Daniel, which will make them suspect me. If they notice that you look like their son _and_ you have a close ectoplasmic signature to Phantom, they--"

"Actually, Danny told them his secret, too," Niel murmured nervously.

"... _What_?!"

Niel bit the inside of his mouth and gazed at his lap. They were just having an almost heartwarming father-son conversation, and of course, he messed things up.

Actually, no. Why should he feel guilty about this? It was Danny's decision to reveal himself, and the Fentons did do a good job at helping Niel.

Niel's arms tightened in their cross while Vlad pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "We will discuss this later. For now, I don't want to sully this moment with your _incompetence_."

"Sure, I so love living under your roof while you call me incompetent," Niel drawled sarcastically.

Vlad tensed before he rubbed his face and said, "No, you're right. I didn't mean to be harsh. I just want you to know that I do regret things."

Niel hesitantly looked up at Vlad. He could tell the man was still mad at him for seeking help from the Fentons, but he kept his anger down. Niel wished he knew how that made him feel. Vlad's apology sounded more genuine than last time, but did he really mean it?

"Do you regret hurting Ellie?" Niel asked.

Vlad pressed his lips. Niel knew he must have been thinking up tons of comments about Danielle's worthlessness, but he didn't voice them. Who knew, maybe he did care about what Niel thought.

"Yes," Vlad said, and Niel might have believed him if he hadn't grown to recognize his lies.

The car slowed to a halt. Niel looked out the window and saw that they had arrived at the mansion. Home.

Vlad climbed out the car, and Niel hesitantly followed. He trailed Vlad as they went up the front steps and through the lavish door. When they entered the foyer, Niel stopped and asked, "What's that?"

There was a neatly gift-wrapped box waiting for them. Niel slowly walked toward it while Vlad said, "Oh, that? It's a gift to express my apology."

Niel tore the wrapping away and saw a brand-new gaming console inside. He honestly felt a little disappointed. True, he did want it, but the gift lost its impact when he already had a thousand gaming devices in his room. This was just another expensive gift from Vlad to keep him at bay.

He heard Vlad's footsteps pass him as the man said, "Come to the lab. I still have to check to see if you're stable."

"But I'm already fixed," Niel said.

"By those Fentons," Vlad said scornfully. "I have no doubt that klutz Jack found a way to mess something up."

Niel looked down at his gift before setting it down. "Okay," he said. "Just give me one second."

Vlad lingered in the edge of his vision, but when a moment passed and Niel still made no move, he left. Alone, Niel sighed. The sigh echoed across the cold and empty hall.

Should he trust Vlad? He did promise to listen to him from now on, and Niel would be lying if he said he didn't find that appealing. Maybe he ought to give him a chance. He gave the Fentons a second chance, and that turned out well. Maybe the same would go with Vlad.

 _Would Ellie forgive him so easily?_ a voice in his head spoke.

Niel squashed the voice down. He turned and followed his dad to the lab.


	14. Breathe

Niel drifted across the sky, letting the wind brush against his invisible form. The city lights shone below him like stars on earth. As he floated along the wind, he thought about how strange it was that very few humans were able to experience flight the same way he did. Niel was born (or rather "born" in quotation marks) with his ghostly abilities and considered them a normal part of his life. Then again, most things about his life could hardly be described as normal.

As he flew, he saw the hard-to-ignore outline of Fentonworks, with its large UFO-shaped ops center on top. Seriously, the Fentons had a strange sense of architecture. He drifted closer and found a familiar boy sprawled out on the roof, gazing up at the sky.

A plume of blue smoke escaped Danny's mouth as Niel got close. Rather than leap into action, Danny just sighed and droned, "Who is it this time? That better not be Box Ghost again."

Niel invisibly grinned, and he moaned in his best Box Ghost impression, "Beware!"

He let his invisibility drop, showing himself hovering above Danny with his arms raised, fingers wiggling. Danny snickered. "Nice Boxy impression."

Niel landed cross-legged next to Danny's prostrate form. He traced his vision up to the sky, where the stars twinkled as if the cosmos were breathing. "Ellie said you like space."

"You mean you don't?" Danny replied with an eyebrow raised.

Niel gazed at the night lights in the sky. He had to admit, there was something comforting about them. Space was so vast, it made him feel small...but strangely calm at the same time. There was a whole universe that will continue to exist in spite of all the problems he went through.

Oh, great, he was starting to like astronomy.

"Ellie," Danny said, snapping him out of his thoughts. "You mentioned that name before. Is it your nickname for Dani?"

Niel wrinkled his nose. "Come on, calling her _Dani_ has got to get confusing at times."

"Oh, absolutely. But it's also hilarious. Like how--"

"There's two Hawkeyes?" Niel guessed.

"And two Spider-Men. Also two Captain Americas. And Hulks. And Thors. And--"

"Geez, how many doubles are there in Marvel comics?"

"Like a lot, you have no idea."

Niel laughed, and Danny smiled. He was still lying on his back, looking up at the stars. But despite his smile and his jokes, he looked tense.

Niel looked away and fidgeted with his cape. "So...how are things with your family?"

Danny shrugged. "My parents who wanted to hunt me down for two years now know that I'm the ghost they wanted to kill and are super duper guilty about it. It's a little awkward, but hey, no big."

"You didn't have to reveal yourself to them."

Danny sighed. He pushed himself into a sitting position and stared down at his lap. "No. You were right...back when we first met. You said I was scared of my parents."

"Oh...I did say that, didn't I," Niel said sheepishly, remembering the day Danny and he met face to face and Niel had tried to get Danny to ditch his family in favor of Vlad.

"That's the thing," Danny continued. "I _was_ scared, as long as they were planning on capturing Phantom. I had to tell them the truth. It was the only way to allow myself to breathe."

"And now you're okay with them?"

Danny nodded. Yet he still didn't seem relaxed.

"Are you sure?" Niel said with a frown.

"I am! Sheesh. You're my clone, not my sister."

Danny was pointedly not looking at Niel. Niel tried to lean into his vision, but Danny turned his head away.

At first, Niel figured he was still tense about his parents. Then he began to wonder if Danny was angry at _him_ for some reason. Did he do something wrong?

Then he realized: Danny was avoiding looking at him the same way he did back in the lab.

Niel summoned the spot of warmth in his chest and turned into his human half. As soon as he did, Danny visibly relaxed. He even let out a small breath he had been holding.

"You're scared of my ghost half," Niel said.

Danny finally looked up at niel. He bit his lip guiltily and glanced to the side. "No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

He sighed defeatedly. "I'm sorry. It's not you. It's just...you remind me of someone."

"Is it Vlad?" Niel asked. He knew he had some of Plasmius's traits in ghost form, whether from the few genes Vlad gave him, or from unconsciously mimicking his dad's ghostly appearance. Vlad was the only one beside Danny that Niel knew he looked similar to.

But Danny shook his head. "It's not Vlad. It's..." He took a shaky breath and said, "It's me."

"You're...scared of your ghost half?" Niel asked, tilting his head.

"No! Not _me_ me, it's..." Danny sighed and rubbed his face. "Sorry, this is a long story. It's a _version_ of me I'm scared of."

Niel could definitely sense that it was a long story. He scooted close to Danny until the two were sitting side by side. "You mind telling it to me?" Niel asked.

Danny rubbed his neck. Niel could tell he was nervous, and he was about to give up listening to his story until Danny spoke, "I went to the future once."

"Because of Clockwork," Niel guessed. Danny looked up at him in surprise, and Niel shifted in place and quickly added, "I've heard of him. Ghost who controls time, right?"

He figured now was not the best time to admit that he had met the time ghost himself. Danny just nodded and continued with his story.

"Clockwork," he said. "He...well, his employers kind of wanted me dead."

"Why?"

"I kind of did something really bad in the future."

"It can't be _that_ bad," Niel said. Danny was such a _good_ guy. There was no way someone like him would do anything terrible.

Danny raised an eyebrow and asked, "Does causing the end of the world sound bad to you?"

Niel's jaw dropped. He waited for Danny to laugh and say he was kidding, but Danny was completely serious. Once Niel remembered how to form words, he said, "What?"

Danny hunched over, like he was trying to protect himself from the air blowing around them. His expression turned grim. "Apparently, my family died in that timeline, and that made me flip," he explained. "I...he killed his human half. Then the whole world. Even that wasn't enough, and I messed with all the ghosts in the ghost zone. I was... _he_ was horrible."

Niel was so shocked that he didn't know what to say. He wanted to tell Danny something comforting, but of course, he inherited Danny's terrible social skills, so what came out of his mouth was instead, "I look like your future self? But I thought I look younger."

"It's Plasmius," Danny said. "For some reason, my future self absorbed Vlad's ghost half or something. I don't know. Probably a part of his flipping out saga."

"And that made him look like a mix of you and Plasmius," Niel said. He felt his gut churn with guilt. No wonder Danny couldn't look at him. He unconsciously moved his hand to his ear, which was round in human form, but he knew how much pointier it looked when he was a ghost...more like Plasmius than Phantom.

Danny brought his knees to his chest and hugged them. "So, yeah," he said, "I was _that bad_ in the future."

"But that's not your future anymore, is it?" Niel said, growing a little nervous. "You would never turn into _him_."

"No," Danny agreed. "Clockwork made sure of that. I won't become Dan--uh, which is what I call him." He buried his chin into his knees and said in a small voice, "But I didn't have a change of heart so easily. When I first saw a glimpse of Dan in Clockwork's time window, do you know what I first thought?"

"That he's a bit of a jerk?" Niel ventured.

"That his powers were _cool_."

"Oh," Niel said. "Yikes."

In the night's darkness, Danny's normally azure eyes looked almost black. They looked down as he said, "It's not until I actually visited the future and saw for myself all that he had done, all the pain and destruction he caused, that I knew just how bad I could turn up." He lifted his head from his knees to take a deep breath and said, "But it's fine. I'm over that now."

Niel was skeptical of that last statement. Danny didn't seem very _over that_ , not if he still tensed up at the sight of Niel's ghost half. "Are you?"

Danny's jaw set, and he stated, "I promised myself I would never become Dan."

Niel could sense an unspoken _but_. Danny didn't continue, so Niel prompted, "But...?"

Danny bit his lip and turned his head away from Niel. "But nothing," he lied.

"Danny, I'm practically a carbon copy of you," Niel insisted. "I know if you're hiding something."

Danny winced guiltily and buried his head between his shoulders. "But..." He glanced at Niel quickly before saying, "But _you_ exist."

Silence. The words seeped into Niel's brain until he understood their meaning, and once he did, he was filled with rage. "Wait--you thought _I_ would turn into _him_?"

Danny threw his hands up and exclaimed, "What was I supposed to think? You were talking about how you were made to _replace_ me--"

"I wasn't going to actually _do_ that!" Niel argued, bristling.

"You were raised by _Vlad_!"

That shout seemed to echo across the sky as Niel fell speechless. Both boys were silent apart from their ragged breathing. Niel turned away, and he said in a tiny voice, "Oh."

He thought that he and Danny had grown to become friends. But apparently, Danny still distrusted him as much as he had since their first meeting. He bit his tongue and glared down at the streets below.

Next to him, Danny's breathing softened. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean that."

Niel shook his head. "No, you're right. I was raised by Vlad...I _am_ being raised by him."

He heard a slapping sound and looked up to see Danny facepalm himself. "I'm so stupid--here I am talking about my problems, and I didn't even think to ask about you and _your_ dad."

Niel clenched his jaw and turned his sight back down. He had been holding on to the tentative hope that Vlad could become a better person, but now, he wasn't so sure. Still, he raised his chin and said with faux confidence, "I think he can change."

Niel expected Danny to respond with skepticism, or worse, outright disbelief. To his surprise, Danny mumbled, "Yeah, you're right."

He looked sideways and saw that Danny had returned his gaze to the sky, but his eyes held a distant look to them, like he was thinking back to an old memory. Niel wondered what made him consider Vlad capable of change. Did it have anything to do with the future he visited? But that didn't make sense...Dan absorbed Vlad, didn't he? Or was that just his ghost half? Could it be seperated?

Niel's head hurt. He didn't understand anything, but he was too afraid to ask.

A quietness settled between them. He looked up, watching the stars twinkle and the clouds move with every breath the sky gave.

"You're not a bad person, Niel," Danny broke the quiet by saying. "Regardless of whether Vlad decides to change or not. And...I know you're not Dan."

Niel wanted to believe him, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized Danny did have a point earlier--he was raised by Vlad, and he learned some morally questionable things from him. Besides... "I almost burned down a restaurant today," Niel recalled guiltily.

He didn't need to look to the side to imagine Danny grimacing. "Hey, at least I stopped you, right?" He saw Danny shift in the edge of his vision and turned his head to see the other boy facing him, his eyes fixed intently on Niel. "Maybe we can both watch over each other, make sure neither of us turns evil. We'll look after each other...as brothers."

"I thought you insisted I'm not your brother."

"That was before I got to know the real you underneath Vlad's brainwashing."

Niel felt a warm feeling grow in his chest, but he squashed it down. Instead, he said, "What do you call Ellie? Your cousin?"

Danny appeared to be caught off guard by his question. "Um, yeah."

"And I'm her brother," Niel said. "That makes us cousins, too."

Through the darkness, he saw Danny smile. "Alright, then, Cuz."

They turned their attention to the horizon, where the slightest hint of red light was climbing the black sky. Was it dawn already? He had spent nearly the entire night awake.

"It's late," Danny said, voicing both their thoughts. "I should probably head back inside."

Niel was already on his feet. Once they were both standing, they faced each other awkwardly and shook hands.

"Bye, Cuz," Danny said. "I'll see you at school."

Niel groaned and brought a palm to his face. "I can't believe I forgot about school."

Danny chuckled. "At least you have the weekend to catch up on missed work. Maybe you can text Sam for help. I know you have her number."

Niel kept his hand on his face to hide the blush that crept into his cheeks. "Yeah."

Danny moved toward the door leading downstairs. He paused and looked back to see Niel still standing in the same spot, unchanged.

"Um, you can change into your ghost form," Danny said. "I can handle it."

Niel gave him a small smile and said, "It's fine, I just want to stay here a bit longer, if you don't mind."

He pretended not to notice Danny's poorly veiled relief at not seeing him transform. Danny disappeared into his house, and Niel was left standing on the roof by himself.

The high altitude breeze was cool against his human skin. He took in a deep breath, then let it out.

He had already known that his dad was not the best person, and neither was he. But could he really become corrupted enough to turn into a world-ending monster? Was Danny right in believing people could change?

Ugh. He was barely half a year old, and already, his life was a complicated mess. He really hoped things aren't always this hard or confusing, but he had a feeling they will be.

After a few more minutes of breathing in air and watching the stars, he lept off the roof and transformed, letting the wind carry his ghost form home to a father who may or may not have been redeemed.


	15. Favorite AU

Niel's first thought: those sure are a lot of gears.

They dominated every space of the building, sending out echoing ticks and tocks with every turn. He appeared to be inside a clock tower, and judging from the electric buzz in the air, it was someplace in the Ghost Zone.

Which led to his second thought: how and when did he get here?

"I brought you here," a voice said, and Niel turned around to see Clockwork.

"What, did you gain the ability to read minds?" Niel asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"I guessed your thoughts. You're wondering where we are, correct?"

"Actually, I kind of figured this was your lair. The whole clock motif gave it away."

Clockwork didn't laugh, but his the edges of his lips did move a centimeter up. Niel counted that as a success.

"Why did you bring me here?" Niel asked, turning in place to take in the gear-filled clocktower.

"What? Can't I invite a visitor over for a tour?"

"The master of all time abducting me from my home just to give me a tour of his lair?"

"Hey, watching over time in my tower can get a little boring without company."

Niel smiled. But as the gears ticked on around him, he thought back to the last conversation he'd had before Clockwork brought him here. He felt himself grow grim.

"Does your real reason for bringing me have to do with Dan?" he asked.

He faced Clockwork and saw that he had shifted into an old man. His elderly eyes took him in sadly.

"It is true that becoming him is a possibility for you--or for any of Danny's clones," Clockwork confirmed.

"Any clone? Even Ellie?"

"Can't ignore the possibility of transgenderism."

"That's fair."

Clockwork placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and added, "But do not worry. It is a very rare possibility, and I intend to make sure it doesn't happen."

"You don't want Ellie to become a guy?"

"I was talking about you becoming Dan."

Niel smiled and said, "I know."

Clockwork's expression was deadpan. He sighed and shifted into a younger adult. "If you really want to know, that isn't my reason for bringing you here, either. The truth is...well, I hardly ever share it with anyone."

"What is it?" Niel asked, growing apprehensive.

Clockwork stared him straight in the eye and said with complete seriousness, "I have a soft spot for Phantoms."

Niel stared. Clockwork shifted into a child and grinned.

"That's it?" Niel said. "Your big secret is that you like Danny?"

"And Danny-related people like you," Clockwork said with a shrug. "The Observants expect me to be unjudgmental in my duties. Of course they would hate it if I told them."

"So you brought me here to tell me how lucky I am for the master of time to look out for me?"

Clockwork frowned at him, which didn't look very intimidating while he was in child form. "Like I said, my job gets boring without company. I've already allowed Danny and Ellie to visit my lair before. I thought I might as well invite you."

Niel crossed his arms. "Whatever you say." He pretended to look around in interest and said, "So, you'll give me a tour?"

"Oh, I'm afraid there's not much to see here." He pointed with his staff and said, "Those are some gears. There's the clock face, also doubles as a window with nice lighting. That's a bell--to chime at midnight, except there's no midnight here because this lair exists outside of time. Sometimes I bang on it for fun to annoy the Observants."

Niel pressed a fist against his mouth to hold back a giggle. "Interesting."

Clockwork shifted into an adult as he pointed his staff at the cloud of green in the center of the room. "And that is my window into time."

 _That_ genuinely interested Niel. He floated toward it until he saw a hazy image appear on its surface. "Is that the future?"

"No, that's just the present," Clockwork answered. The image cleared until Niel saw a--a Denny's restaurant? with a woman working in the kitchen.

Niel raised an eyebrow. "So you just spend your time observing random people go on with their lives?"

" _Observing_ is the Observants' job," Clockwork said with an exaggerated eye roll (how Niel knew he was rolling his eyes when he had no pupils, he wasn't sure). "I observe _and_ make sure everything goes correctly."

"So is this Denny's chef's day about to go correctly?"

"No. She's about to use too much salt."

Just as he said, Niel watched as the woman accidentally tipped too much salt and gasped guiltily. Niel laughed.

"This is amazing." He turned to Clockwork and said with a grin, "Think you could show me anything embarrassing?"

Clockwork smirked. He waved at the window, and the image changed. It showed Technus sitting in a bathtub, talking to a squeaky rubber ducky.

Niel giggled and raised his eyebrows. "Ghosts take baths?"

Technus stood up, and Niel screamed and covered his eyes when it became apparent that Technus was naked. "Gross! I'm a minor!"

"Apologies. But ghosts don't copulate that way."

"They don't?" Niel uncovered his eyes to peek inside his own pants in ghost form.

Clockwork cleared his throat. "You can check that later. I've changed the view for your sake."

Niel looked up and found Technus's bathroom gone. In its place was an empty street in the human world. He was about to ask what embarrassing thing he was looking at this time, but his smile quickly vanished when a person stumbled into view.

"Ellie!" Niel cried. It was his sister, as messy-looking as always. She glanced back and forth before pulling out a fruit from her pockets--no doubt stolen--and biting into it hungrily.

Niel felt himself slammed with guilt. He had the lucky opportunity to live lavishly in Vlad's mansion, and meanwhile, she still struggled to survive on the streets. "This isn't a very funny view," he murmured.

Clockwork had changed into an old man next to him. "I wanted to show you that your sister is doing fine on her own."

"Fine? She's living on the streets, stealing food to survive!" Niel almost reached out through the window to touch Ellie, but Clockwork grabbed his wrist to stop him. He looked up and saw the time ghost's wrinkled face looking sternly at him.

Clockwork let go and leaned on his staff. "You know, this window can show the past, present, and future...but it can also show alternate timelines that _could_ have happened." As Niel watched curiously, he changed the view again. This time, it showed the interior of a luxurious mansion--one that Niel recognized right away. However, it took him longer to recognize the person standing inside.

Niel squinted his eyes. "Is that... _Ellie_?" He almost couldn't believe it. This Danielle was much different from the one he had seen moments ago. Her hair was neatly brushed, and she wore a tailored suit and skirt, both ironed and stainless.

"This is what things would have been like had she followed Vlad's orders and stayed by his side," Clockwork explained. As if to accentuate his point, Vlad Masters walked into frame, and Danielle eagerly hugged him.

Niel gazed at the father and daughter sadly. "This is how things should have gone."

"So you would rather Danielle capture your cousin for Vlad's sake?"

"What?" Niel said, facing away from the time window.

"I mentioned that this timeline would only have happened if Danielle followed your father's orders," Clockwork said. "That includes being Danny's enemy."

Niel stared back at the posh version of Ellie standing next to Vlad. Now that he observed her, he saw a dangerous glint in her eyes. This Danielle didn't care about the measures she took to ensure her position by her father's side.

He remembered his Ellie once saying that she would have taken lives to please Vlad. He thought she was joking. This alternate Danielle didn't look like a jokester.

Suddenly, the idea of Ellie becoming Dan didn't sound so farfetched.

"So, things would have sucked either way," Niel said sadly.

"I wouldn't say that, exactly," Clockwork responded. The view changed back to Niel's timeline. Whether this was the past or the future, it showed Ellie in a different location: a balcony, sitting next to...

"Hey, that's Danny's ghost hunter classmate," Niel recognized. What had Danny called her...Val? She and Ellie were chatting with each other amiably. "That girl tried to shoot me."

"She tried to shoot your sister, too, before they made up," Clockwork said. "They never would have become close friends if Ellie had decided to follow Vlad. Neither girl would have been as close to Danny, either."

Niel couldn't hear what they were talking about, but Val threw back her head and laughed as Ellie said something funny. They seemed happy.

"So you see, sometimes a situation looks bad, and you wish you could have taken a different path instead. But for every negative thing, there is also a positive hidden somewhere. All you have to do is look."

Niel looked up at Clockwork, who had changed into a younger age while he wasn't looking. "Is the real _real_ reason you brought me here to teach me a moral lesson?" Niel asked.

"Perhaps," Clockwork said with a slight smile.

Niel turned back to the time window. Ellie looked happy, but... "I still wi--want things to be easier," Niel said wistfully, avoiding usage of the W-word.

"Everyone wants that," Clockwork said. "The most you could do is live on despite the hardships and focus on the good. Or, if you're a ghost, keep existing until you find peace."

Niel glanced at Clockwork. He wasn't in old man form, but Niel wondered how old he really was. Millenia, maybe. Did he ever find peace during his existence? Maybe he was justified in abducting Phantoms for company.

All of a sudden, a loud clang reverberated across the clock tower. Niel jumped and turned to the source of the noise. Beside him, Clockwork grew sober.

"Ah. He's restless again," the time ghost said.

"Who is?"

Clockwork floated toward a shelf and picked up what looked like a dented Fenton thermos. As Niel watched, it clanged in his hands again, forming another dent.

"This is whom you and your cousin had been conversing about," Clockwork said.

Niel's eyes widened. "You mean _Dan_ is in there?" Suddenly, he was hesitant to come closer to Clockwork and his thermos.

Clockwork gazed at the container sadly. "He was once Danny, you know. Unfortunately, he lost his way."

"And killed millions of people," Niel added. He noted how banged up the thermos looked. It must have been close to bursting. "Will he stay in there forever?"

"No," answered Clockwork. "Sooner or later, I will have to let him out."

"And then you'll kill him, right? Or--whatever you call destroying a ghost?"

"No."

Niel stared at clockwork. "No? Then what will you do? Place him in ghost jail?"

"No. I will let him go."

"You're kidding, right?"

Clockwork changed into an old man, so the tiredness in his face became all the more pronounced. He placed the thermos back on the shelf, and the way he looked at it made Niel wonder if something had went on between him and Dan.

"It's just as I said," Clockwork told him. "I have a soft spot for Phantoms."

"Even the genocidal maniacs?"

Clockwork didn't answer, but he still looked sorrowful.

"That does not matter," he said. "Now is not the time for you to worry about Dan. For now, you should worry about school."

Niel turned his attention away from Dan at the word 'school' and groaned. "Can't you use your time powers to help me out a bit?"

Clockwork held his gaze intently and said, "Cheating is a very serious problem. I'll have you know that Dan exists only because he cheated on his C.A.T. exam."

Niel stared at him dumbfoundedly. Clockwork's expression was serious--until he broke it with a grin, and he changed into a child. Niel narrowed his eyes. "You're not funny."

"So the Observants say."

Clockwork raised his staff, probably to send Niel back, but Niel said, "One more question." Clockwork listened patiently as Niel asked, "What's your _favorite_ alternate timeline?"

Clockwork hummed thoughtfully and rubbed his chin. "I'd have to say it's the one with you in it."

"But I thought that was the main..." He caught Clockwork smiling and said, "You're _really_ not funny."

"Agree to disagree," Clockwork said. He raised his staff again and said, "Do your homework. Time out!"

The next thing Niel knew, he was waking up in bed, feeling well rested. The morning sunlight came in through the window.

His encounter with Clockwork felt like a dream. He almost assumed that was so...until he stepped into the bathroom and looked at his reflection.

"Seriously?" Niel said, just _knowing_ Clockwork was laughing to himself in his lair.

On his face was drawn a sharpie mustache, plus a scribble of a gear symbol and the letters CW on his cheek.

For an age-old ghost, Clockwork was _incredibly_ immature.


End file.
